76) Don't Like the President? How to Move Abroad

If you feel that suddenly your country is no longer aligned with who you are or what you value, and you are looking for an escape and you want to move abroad this episode is for you.

I am making this episode in conjunction with recent events of Donald Trump becoming president again, but this isn’t a political episode or just for Americans this is for anyone who wants to know they have the freedom to leave if their country isn’t aligning with them anymore. But how do you move abroad and where should you go?

In today’s episode, I want to talk about first where do you DREAM to go and what the practical ways are to move abroad. How do you handle health insurance, taxes, visas, or having employment while abroad? I have been living abroad for 11 years and my business the Digital Nomad Life Academy helps people become digital nomads and give them the ultimate freedom to live wherever they want and however they want. So if you don’t like your new president or how your country makes you feel this episode is for you!

Message me on Instagram: @christabellatravels
CODEWORD:  Roadmap

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Transcript

Christa Romano: [00:00:00] Hey there and welcome to the Digital Nomad Life podcast. I'm your host Christa, also known as @christabellatravels on social media and the reason why I'm sharing with you my social media handle right up front is because I really welcome your DMs. If there is anything that you want to talk about or respond to in this episode, I'm more than happy to have a respectful, non judgmental conversation with you and I'm just here to help you and support you and whatever it is that you need help and support with.

Christa Romano: I have made this whole podcast because you know I've been living this life abroad for about 11 years at this point and I know all about what it takes to move abroad and I also have this kind of outside perspective on politics. And if you've seen the title of this episode, you know that this episode is inspired by recent political events.

Christa Romano: So if you're listening to this episode at the time of its publication, you're probably [00:01:00] familiar with what I'm talking about. But if you're not, last week, Donald Trump was elected to be the president of the United States again. And there are a whole lot of people, about 50 percent of the nation, that's really stoked about this outcome.

Christa Romano: And another half of the population that's very, very, very upset about this outcome. I mean, that's kind of what happens with every single election, uh, in the United States when you live in a two party system, but that's neither here nor there. This episode is a shout out to anybody who is on that side of the fence where you feel like, maybe betrayed by your country.

Christa Romano: You feel that suddenly the country is no longer aligned with who you are or what you value, and you are looking for an escape. So this episode is not specifically for Americans, it's just inspired by American politics. So whether you're from Canada or Hungary or Russia or the Ukraine or whatever. you know, there's, there's a lot of countries out there that [00:02:00] have people in them specifically right now in this day and age that they desire to live somewhere else.

Christa Romano: And there's just a lot that you have to do and a lot that you have to think about in order to move abroad. So I'm making this episode not necessarily to talk about my own political opinions. Actually, my political opinions. Frankly, shouldn't fucking matter. Like they don't matter. I don't even know if they're actually even strong enough for me to talk about for a 10 minute episode.

Christa Romano: Uh, so it really isn't about political views. It's just, if you disagree with the politics or with the leader of your current country, and you want to. leave, you want to escape, then, uh, I will provide for you things to think about so that you can free yourself. And of course, before I talk about that, I want to talk about the whole psychology of the reason why you want to free yourself in the first place.

Christa Romano: If you're a frequent listener of this [00:03:00] podcast, you know I love talking about psychology, about humanity at large, about dreaming big, about being in touch with your values and your authenticity. So, I will talk about that first, and then towards the end of the episode, you will hear all the practical information that I can give you to help you actually free yourself.

Christa Romano: this year. Now I have no idea how long this episode is going to be. There's a lot to cover. So, uh, that being said, I think I will start off by just introducing myself. Um, I do that on every episode, of course, because I think it's so important for you to know who it is that you're learning from. If you are taking advice, especially on something so big as changing your life.

Christa Romano: Like if you're listening to the digital nomad life podcast, and you're curious about being a digital nomad. Whether that means that you want to be living out of your suitcase or you want to move to Spain or you want to, whatever, doesn't matter. I think that you're probably listening or you've discovered this [00:04:00] podcast because you're interested in living a freedom focused life.

Christa Romano: That's why people become digital nomads. Not necessarily to travel, but to have freedom. So, Who am I to be teaching you this subject matter? Well, my story starts in 2013 after I had been working in corporate for a few years, felt very burnt out, very burned in fact, by the corporate system. Um, I had this strong moment of awareness that I was living in a scenario that did not align with my views on life and therefore I felt like an alien, I felt like an outsider, and I just really wanted to be somewhere where I felt more aligned.

Christa Romano: So long story short, and you can listen to the long version of this story on episode one of this podcast, long story short, I became a digital nomad and I did that in 2013. So that means I have been living abroad for over 11 years at this [00:05:00] point, and I've traveled to 66 countries. Um, I've, I've lived long term in Thailand and in Bali, Indonesia.

Christa Romano: I've spent many months in different countries like Spain, Italy, Portugal, Brazil are probably the places where I've spent the longest outside of Bali and Thailand. And I just share all this to let you know that I really am well versed in what the world has to offer people that, um, want to be abroad and want to be living in a different culture other than the one that they were born into.

Christa Romano: So, before I share anything, I just hope that my brief story reminds you that you do have options. And you probably have way, way, way more options than you could even imagine. And you can't imagine those options right now because you haven't had anybody telling you what your options even are. So I also hope that this episode really opens up your mind [00:06:00] for you to understand that the world is changing.

Christa Romano: is your oyster. And I believe that where there's a will, there is a way. There are people from all different countries in the world that have immigrated or become an expatriate in another country. So, um, your options are there, okay? And where there's a will, there's a way. So if you will it, if you will yourself to leave the country that you're in, you're in the right place.

Christa Romano: Let's talk about it.

Christa Romano: First of all, I would love to just acknowledge the way that you are feeling right now. I know that when you feel out of power, when you feel like your rights are being taken away, when you feel trapped, when you feel like you're suddenly confined to an environment that you don't want to be in, that can feel incredibly suffocating, and in fact scary, and Scared the scariness, the fear is what activates that flight response, which is probably what's [00:07:00] happening in your system right now.

Christa Romano: I just wanted to call that out because I do think that, you know, you're listening to this podcast because you're considering making a major, major life change. And I'm not saying it's a bad change. Like moving abroad literally was the, my favorite thing I've ever done in my whole life. And I'm so, so grateful for my international lifestyle, and it was again, the best thing that I ever did, but it was a huge decision.

Christa Romano: And, uh, if you're considering that, I just want you to be making that decision from a truly grounded place. So usually when we are feeling scared of something, then our Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response gets activated, and if your flight response, this whole like, I gotta get the fuck out of here response, is activated, it means that there's something that you're scared of.

Christa Romano: And, um, I get feeling scared of your government. Actually, me of all people. I definitely, [00:08:00] uh, have personally a lot of distrust of governments in general. I think I've just traveled around the world. too much and seen too many genocide memorials. I have seen just too much world history, too many museums about wars, etc.

Christa Romano: And, um, yeah, I just don't always think the government or the healthcare system or whatever has our best interests in mind, especially in the United States. It's rooted in capitalism. You know, it's money is behind all the decisions. So I feel you. And again, I just want you to be making the decision to move abroad from a grounded place. And if you are sitting there being like, I really want to do this, but it feels impossible. I am here to tell you that it is not impossible.

Christa Romano: And it's definitely not impossible when you do approach it from a grounded, rational place. So Yeah, this episode, let's walk through step by step what you need to start considering if you do want to get the [00:09:00] hell out of the country that you are currently in. You're not trapped there.

Christa Romano: So if you're in this grounded place and you're like, okay, I'm ready. Let's do this. Where do I begin? Well, the place that you begin is actually the most fun part of the process. So the first thing that you need to do if you want to move abroad is to actually just in your mind, think about what would you love to experience in your new life?

Christa Romano: Think back to our ancestors.

Christa Romano: Those brave explorers who would have gotten on a boat and sailed across the ocean to a faraway land that they didn't really know anything about, but what they were looking for was something different in their life. Maybe they felt really oppressed by their government. And so they did the crazy thing, which is again, getting on a boat and sailing to some faraway land.

Christa Romano: So our ancestors did not have the opportunity to just imagine what would be their dream scenario, but you do. [00:10:00] Okay. You know that the whole world is your oyster. Anywhere that you want to be is literally perfect. A 24 hour trip away, whether that's a flight or a boat or a car ride or a train ride or whatever.

Christa Romano: You can be, you can get, like, anywhere in the world within a day's time. So, where would you like to go? And I want you to think about, again, what would you love, where would you love to go? Before you think about where can you go, because as I mentioned earlier, where there's a will, there's a way. There are people that have immigrated to every single country in the world, from every country in the world.

Christa Romano: So, no matter what your passport is, no matter um, how much money you have in the bank account, no matter what visas your government or their government says are possible, no matter what First, just think about what do you love? So for me, what I love are tropical environments. I mean, tropical or Mediterranean climates.

Christa Romano: Like I don't want to [00:11:00] deal with the freaking snow like ever again. I'm so over it. So for me, that eliminates, like, 70 percent of the world, basically. Um, and that's great because now that narrows down my options a lot, but maybe you don't care so much about the snow. Maybe you actually really find seasons to be so nice.

Christa Romano: Like maybe you really want to enjoy a fall. Four season place. So in that case, that will eliminate a huge portion of the world too, but maybe it has nothing to do with the weather. Maybe you actually enjoy a certain pace of life. Maybe a big city experience is something that would feel so fun for you.

Christa Romano: Like a place where there's museums and art galleries and fancy restaurants and really cool nightlife. Like if that's something that you're interested in, then cool, we can eliminate a a huge percentage of the world. We're going to eliminate all those little mountain towns. We're going to eliminate anywhere suburban or rural, and we're just only [00:12:00] going to look at the big cities.

Christa Romano: Maybe also there's a particular sport or recreational activity that you love to participate in. So remember right now the world is your actual oyster. So get creative here with thinking about what would be your dream life scenario. Because if you're going to go through all the freaking work that it takes to go move abroad, you're not You might as well pick somewhere that you think is gonna be friggin amazing and so aligned with who you are.

Christa Romano: So, when I say, think about your dream scenario, I mean, whether you love kite surfing, or whether you actually love the underground kink scene, you know, there are cities to support you either way. There are places to support you either way. So, just some examples of lifestyle destinations that you could choose based on what you love or what you would love to experience.

Christa Romano: If you are someone who wants to experience a laid back beach culture, you really love tropical weather, you are interested [00:13:00] in eating healthy food, but it doesn't necessarily need to come from a fancy restaurant, and maybe you're obsessed with windsurfing. Well, you might want to visit a place in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka checks off all of those boxes.

Christa Romano: But what Sri Lanka doesn't check off is big city. underground kink culture, for example. And if that's what you're interested in and you're down with seasons, then maybe I would suggest that you check out Berlin. I'm telling you, there are just, there are places around the world to suit any single kind of personality.

Christa Romano: So again, we're going to think about, does it check off your other boxes and can you feasibly move there? We're going to think about that later. First thing though, I'd love for you to make a list. All of the aspects of your life. That would just be such a dream come true. If you got to experience it on a day to day basis, write them down and then I recommend that you actually [00:14:00] ask chat GPT or you could even slide into my DMS.

Christa Romano: Do you know what slide into my DMS? Ask me a question and be like, hey, I'm looking for a place that has all. All of these things. Can you think of anywhere? And, um, I'm an incredibly well traveled person and I've been traveling around the world always looking for a place that I wanted to call my home. So, uh, yeah, anyway, ask me or ask ChatGPT based on your list of criteria.

Christa Romano: Now remember that the more places that you are aware of that satisfy your lifestyle goals, the better because you know what you're going to do is ask chat GPT, Hey, where can I go that has this, this, this, this, this, this, and this criteria and see how many places that it gives you. Um, if it only gives you a few places, you might want to cut some of those requirements or, you know, prioritize them, say, you know, these are the three things that are most important.

Christa Romano: It's. Weather, it's, uh, urban environment and it's. public transportation or something. Maybe those are things that you really care about. [00:15:00] And then you can say, if it has a great music scene, amazing, but if not, I can live without it. So, you kind of want to get it to a point where I would say you have maybe, like, at least 10 places that you can choose from.

Christa Romano: Because out of those 10, now you've got to think about, the more practical stuff, which will include, can you afford it? What kind of visas will you be on? And also how will you be making an income while you are there? Now you might be saying, yeah, but what about taxes? And what about healthcare?

Christa Romano: No, no, no. Those are later on in the decision making process. Okay. So just stick with me here. We're going step by step on how you can narrow down all your options into one that feels really good and you know how to make it happen. So the things that we are looking at again are how much freedom do you want to have in your life?

Christa Romano: And then can you afford it? And are you able to stay there? So that involves visas and of course your income and the way [00:16:00] that you are making money, etc. So um, The thing about freedom, right, is that, depending on how much freedom you want, that will dictate where you're working, how you're working, and again, the kind of visa that you need to be on.

Christa Romano: So, I remember back in 2013 when I was like, I want to leave the United States, I want to go have a life abroad, where do I want to go? And being a digital nomad wasn't really a thing at the time, so I really had a lot to consider but one of the things that I knew that I wanted to do was I wanted to bounce around to different countries.

Christa Romano: I actually originally was thinking, oh, I'll move to Australia, um, because I knew that there was like a working holiday visa there, which means that you can actually get a job in Australia, which is cool, like you can be hired by the government. a company there and they'll pay you as if you're a citizen.

Christa Romano: Um, and you can do that for like, I think a year or two years depending on what country you're from. So that was my initial thought because I didn't [00:17:00] know how I was going to make money online. Right. So I thought, oh, okay, I'll, I'll go to Australia and get a working holiday visa. But then I thought, yeah, but one of my big lifestyle requirements, one of the, the whole reason why I'm doing this is because I want to travel around a lot.

Christa Romano: And Australia is very isolated. And also I knew that if I had a job, like a real job in an, in an office or on a farm or something, that I wouldn't really be able to see so many countries because it's just, it takes like eight hours to fly anywhere. So that was one of the big reasons why I chose to move to Thailand instead of Australia because of Thailand's small size and it's very strategically located in the middle of Southeast Asia.

Christa Romano: I knew that even if I had a job. Like, originally I was moving to Thailand to teach English, I knew that even if I had a job, I could hop over to Singapore, to Hong Kong, to Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, I could do all of those things on a long weekend. And that was very interesting and very appealing to me, and again, one of the [00:18:00] reasons why I chose Thailand over a more isolated place like Australia.

Christa Romano: Now I didn't know what visa I was going to get in Thailand. Um, and I, again, I didn't really know what I was going to do for work, but I had the idea that I was going to teach English. So I was pretty sure that I was going to be, on some kind of more like semi permanent visa rather than a tourist visa.

Christa Romano: And this is something that I want you to remember, you know, earlier on in the episode I was like, first think about your lifestyle requirements and then think about the visas and the affordability because Where there is a will, there's a way. So think about where you would love to be and then we'll figure out a way to make it happen.

Christa Romano: So in Thailand, I was like, okay, I want to be in a place where I can travel a lot. How am I going to make this happen? Because I didn't know about the digital nomad option. I thought, okay, I will teach English in Thailand. Therefore I get a semi permanent visa. And my visa was multiple re [00:19:00] entry. This is something important to consider if you are a digital nomad who's not employed by a a foreign company in a foreign country.

Christa Romano: So you have single entry visas and multiple re entry visas. A single entry visa is, uh, a lot of people get this when they come to Bali for example. You can get a two month visa and you come here and then you can stay for two whole months and then after the two months you need to leave the country and then if you leave you can come right back, um, but it's on a new visa.

Christa Romano: You have to pay for the visa again. That's a single entry visa. Now a multiple re entry visa is what I have here in Bali because I have a semi permanent visa. Um, so because mine is multiple re entry, that means I paid for a visa for two years. And I can leave whenever I want and come back whenever I want as long as my visa is not expired.

Christa Romano: Whereas if it were a single entry, [00:20:00] and I came here on the two month visa, but I wanted to leave after a week, that null and voids. that single entry visa and now I need to again pay for it when I come back. So um, the cost of visas is something to consider as well. I will tell you a secret that most digital nomads for the past 10 years before a digital nomad visa was a thing.

Christa Romano: Everybody was visiting places on a tourist visa and they were just working online from that tourist visa and that's just How people do it. Um, and that's how they've always done it actually. is there a gray zone there with the legalities of it? Um, honestly, I'm not really sure. And I feel like the governments aren't really sure either.

Christa Romano: And that's why the tourist visa was just always a thing. When you go to immigration and they say, what are you doing here? You just say, I'm visiting. You don't say, I'm working from my laptop because that could raise red flags even though you're not necessarily [00:21:00] breaking any laws because the law hasn't been updated to address the digital nomad movement.

Christa Romano: Just if you're ever going somewhere as a digital nomad and you're on a tourist visa, just tell them that you're a tourist and avoid being interrogated. Basically. Nobody wants that. Um, okay. So for me, yeah, like I spent a lot of time in Europe over the past decade and every time I went there, I was always there on a tourist visa.

Christa Romano: Now the tourist visa that as a tourist visa, I was able to get as an American was multiple reentry. So that's pretty cool because I would, you know, go base myself in Portugal for say like three or four, I think the longest time I was there was maybe four months. and, um, I also would be able to pop over to Spain and then come back to Portugal and I'd pop over to Germany and come back to Portugal and I could go to Ireland and the Netherlands and come back to Portugal and I could do that with the multiple re entry thing as long as my visa was [00:22:00] valid but here's the thing, that visa, if you want to go to Europe, you actually only get six months consecutively at a time.

Christa Romano: So that's within the, something called the Schengen zone. Um, I'm only getting this specific because I think Europe is like a destination that a lot of people desire to be in. So FYI, there are, um, A lot of countries, like pretty much the, the most famous Western countries are all within something called the sheen zone, C-S-C-H-E-N-G-E-N, sheen Zone.

Christa Romano: And all those countries collaborate to have the same visa laws and requirements. So you can show up in any one of those Sheen countries. Um, it's like Spain, Portugal, uh, Germany, France, Netherlands, um, Belgium. Ireland, Croatia,

Christa Romano: Luxembourg, Switzerland,

Christa Romano: Sweden, Norway, et cetera, like all the western [00:23:00] countries again. So you can show up to any one of those and then you get to stay in that entire region for six months. So that's pretty cool and that is very freeing. because you can work from your laptop while you're doing that. But then after six months, it's like, okay, now where do you go spend the rest of your year?

Christa Romano: And that is something to consider that, you know, let's say you go to one of these places and you fall in love. Well, now you need to figure out another country for you both to be in. And if you're a digital nomad, that's amazing. Um, but if you're trying to make money in a Or you just don't want to be traveling that much, then maybe that wouldn't be the place.

Christa Romano: Luckily, there is something called a digital nomad visa now, which is available in a few countries. Spain and Portugal being two of them, where you are able to, I think, stay up to like, I don't know, pretty much like up to five years, depending on the way that you renew it. [00:24:00] So that's pretty cool that you can go to those places.

Christa Romano: But again, like this whole, what if you fall in love? What if you have a baby? What if you want to, what if you want to stay there long term? Um, then you might want to start considering other kind of visas that let you stay in a more kind of semi permanent way. But I think for now, if you are actually just wanting to free your life, then, I would recommend, again, asking ChatGPT for all the places in the world that fit your lifestyle requirements, and then probably just rocking up on a tourist visa, and deciding from there, if you like the place enough, to stay.

Christa Romano: And again, I really hold the belief that wherever it is that you want to be, if you do want to stay, you can figure it out. Like, it might require you to be on a student visa, maybe you need to enroll in language classes or something, or it might require you to get some kind of job or prove that you are a specialist, but for the most part, like, you'll be able to figure out how to stay.

Christa Romano: [00:25:00] Okay, so now you're like, but what about taxes and what about health care and stuff? So those things, yes, you do still need to look into them, but I would say only start looking into them once you have narrowed down a country that you want to be in that you feasibly can stay for like, six months minimum on at least a tourist visa.

Christa Romano: So with the taxes thing, that is another thing that I would definitely ask AI about because taxes are going to be so different based on your citizenship, how long you spend in different destinations, et cetera. And, uh, I'm absolutely not a tax expert, but what I do know is that again, there are so many ways to optimize that part of your life.

Christa Romano: All legally, of course, of course, of course. So you're going to want to ask, Chat, GPT, or some other AI about What are the digital nomads? tax loopholes basically or tax exemptions. [00:26:00] Um, I know there are many countries, the United States is one of them, Germany, New Zealand, et cetera, where you are, as long as you can prove that you are outside of the country for a certain number of months, you're not actually obligated to pay federal income taxes.

Christa Romano: So this can save you a lot of money. And especially if you are a digital nomad who is making money online and not necessarily from the country that you are spending time in, you might not even be obligated to pay taxes to the country that you are living in. Um, but again, that is a question to ask the robots, ask artificial intelligence about it, not me.

Christa Romano: I'm just here to share with you some of the things that you need to consider and some of the things that you need to ask about when it comes time to choosing a life abroad. If you are employed by a company in that foreign country, you will definitely then need to pay taxes to that foreign country. [00:27:00] And then you might need to file in both countries depending on how long you're there, et cetera.

Christa Romano: So, if you ask me this whole thing about like affordability and how can I stay and how can I just make this be so easy? Being a digital nomad and making money online is literally the way and especially making money via your own business. When you are working for another Even if that company is fully remote, there's always going to be some complications with taxes that you will need to consider.

Christa Romano: And sometimes HR doesn't like it when you are living in foreign countries because now they have more paperwork to do, and that often is a reason why we are seeing so many people who have Completely remote jobs being told that they're literally not allowed to work from another country, which I just think is so sad and like really unfair and it's just because that company doesn't want to do more [00:28:00] paperwork.

Christa Romano: So, Out of everything that I've said, you know, you do have the option of working in other countries. I mentioned Australia has a working holiday visa and many countries are able to take advantage of that. But Americans specifically can also take advantage of a working holiday visa in New Zealand, Ireland, South Korea, Singapore, and Portugal now.

Christa Romano: That's a new one. Um, but usually you have to be under the age of 30. Usually you can only stay for a year. Maximum two years. Um, and I don't know. It also depends on like how long term you want to be moving abroad. For me, when I was originally thinking about moving abroad, I was thinking maybe it would only be for a year, but I also was holding space for the fact that if I really liked it, I might want to stay.

Christa Romano: Um, so yeah, actually that was almost a deterrent for me choosing Australia as well, because I was like, what if I do want to stay after a year? Um, and then I'm not able to [00:29:00] figure it out. So. Although I guess now, like I said, I do hold the belief that you can, you can always figure it out. Um, it's just might be a little complicated and requiring quite a bit of research.

Christa Romano: So, Yeah, you can get those visas which allow you to be hired from a company in that country, but there are many other ways. Like, if you have any specific skills where, you know, teaching English can be a skill, um, if you have a specific skill that that country is looking for, then you can get a country to sponsor you to stay there and be there.

Christa Romano: And again, that is what I originally did when I moved to Thailand, um, which was amazing. But then I actually got a job in marketing when I was there, which also was very cool. However, oh, back on the freedom. point that I meant to make. So the reason why I ultimately left Thailand and why I was like, I cannot sustain this life abroad [00:30:00] here anymore was because I still only had vacation time.

Christa Romano: I had like 20 days of vacation, which was significantly more than I was getting when I worked in the United States. But when you're living that far away or when you're living abroad in general, like you're going to miss your family, you're going to get homesick and you're going to want to leave that country to go visit home.

Christa Romano: But because I was so far away and I chose Thailand because I wanted to travel around to lots of different countries, I just didn't have the ability to go visit my family for longer than like two weeks, which really is a pretty short period of time when you're living on the other side of the planet. Um, you barely get over jet lag after two weeks.

Christa Romano: So yeah, I just felt like, you know, this isn't worth it to me. I do love my life abroad, but I want to have more freedom. And that ultimately is what brought me to the digital nomad life. And why I'm here to tell you that, like, if you are not wanting to be in the country that you're in, The most [00:31:00] sustainable way for you to design your life and execute, live out that life that you design is by being a digital nomad with your own business, not being hired by a company,

Christa Romano: not working remotely for a company, but literally working remotely for yourself. Because the affordability and income and healthcare are the three things that we didn't talk about yet that need to be addressed, of course. Because if you're going to choose another country to live in, you need to be able to afford to live there.

Christa Romano: Otherwise, you like really don't want to be a homeless person in a country where you don't have citizen rights, you know?

Christa Romano: Now, I don't want to scare you with a homeless comment, but I just mean that it's really important to have your shit together financially when you do move abroad, and I think that the sooner that you can get started on creating a completely location independent side hustle and then turning it into a full time business, [00:32:00] literally that is when the whole world will be your oyster.

Christa Romano: Where borders won't matter to you anymore. Where you can say yes to any opportunity, whether that's a friend's wedding in Brazil, and then

Christa Romano: checking out Diwali in India, and then heading over to Thailand for an event called Songkran, and then going to spend three months in Bali to hang out with me, like, you can figure out how to do all of those things, and, and go. Calculate how much money it's going to cost for you to do all those things. Oh, and by the way, the healthcare thing, if you are like, okay, cool, I need to have a surgery this year, or I want to get my lips done or whatever it is, you could choose to go have your surgery in Turkey and get your lips done in South Korea and have the best of best healthcare, because again, borders don't matter to you anymore when you are completely location independent.

Christa Romano: So I think a lot of people think that being a [00:33:00] digital nomad, it's like really complicated and there's all this stuff that you need to figure out. And yeah, in this episode, of course, I revealed some of the things that you need to consider like your visas. And, you know, again, I'm going to talk a little bit more in a second about about money and how to make that money, but it really doesn't have to be that complicated.

Christa Romano: The thing that makes it complicated is that you have so many options and you need to get really clear on what it is that you value in order to narrow down all of your options. But to me, that's the most beautiful thing about this lifestyle is you get to, again, craft the way that you do things, the money that you make, the places that you are, the times that you go, who you spend time with.

Christa Romano: All of it can be done based off of who you authentically are. And I think being a digital nomad enables you to live the most authentic life possible. So, um, finally, yeah, I just want to talk about money and how to make it while you are [00:34:00] abroad. while you are anywhere, like while you're anywhere in the world, how do you make money?

Christa Romano: So I have many other episodes that go really in depth into this, but I'm just going to very high level, like generally tell you what the step by step process would be for you to actually start making money as a digital nomad. Okay. Actually, before I tell you the step by step process, let's talk about timing.

Christa Romano: The time to start is way before you want to move abroad. So if you're even considering moving abroad, the time to start laying the groundwork for your digital nomad lifestyle is now. If you have all these things on the horizon where you're like, yeah, but I still have another year before I or um, I need to go through like a, a house tour.

Christa Romano: Sale process next year. Okay? Get your shit together now. Like start thinking about what kind of career you wanna do to make money online. lay the [00:35:00] groundworks in for your side hustle now. 'cause it can take a while to get your own digital nomad business really running and really making you good money.

Christa Romano: So the sooner that you can start, the better off you're going to be to pack your bags and book your first one-Way plane ticket when you actually want to rather the. Being in a situation where you're stuck, which actually that's what inspired this whole episode in the first place. Right? Everybody who's listening to this episode because they want to move abroad because of the president.

Christa Romano: Like if you had actually started laying the groundwork for you to be free a year ago, You would already have moved to Canada or Mexico or Bali or Spain or wherever like you would have been on that plane now and you would never have to live a day in the United States with Trump as your president if you didn't want to, but because you've delayed because you were just waiting to see what happens.

Christa Romano: Now you have to suffer the consequences of feeling stuck. So I kind of mentioned this earlier, but like you just never [00:36:00] know when shit's going to hit the fan and you never know when you're going to want to activate your flight response. Let's talk about how you can get started literally right now, even if you think that now isn't the moment that you want to move abroad.

Christa Romano: Perfect. Now's the time for you to get started. So first thing that you want to do is just like At the beginning of this episode where I was like, you need to design your ideal lifestyle. You want to design your ideal career. Now you don't have to know what that career is yet, but you should know, or you should think about what are the things that you would value most in a career so that you can start working backwards and Narrowing down your infinite options, just like on the planet.

Christa Romano: There are, you know, about 200 countries to choose from. And then inside of each country, there's, you know, maybe five to a dozen or more cities that you could live in. That's so many options of [00:37:00] places that you can go. And there are so many options of ways that you can make money online with your own business.

Christa Romano: In fact, technically there are infinite ways. So you don't need to know what all of your options are first. What you should do instead of knowing what all your options are first is knowing what you value. So the process that I take my clients through is I give them this big, uh, It's called a career assessment form where they fill out literally how they feel about different words, all their work history, what they liked and didn't like about different classes that they took, how they feel and what their relationship is to different social media, et cetera.

Christa Romano: And then I also want to assess what their short term goals are and their long term goals. So if you're going to recreate this kind of exercise for yourself, I want you to think about, you know, are you a people person or do you like doing things behind the scenes? Are you more of a creative person or are you more analytical and [00:38:00] strategic?

Christa Romano: Do you currently have skills that you can leverage right now to make money from? Or are you starting from a completely clean slate? And if you're starting from a completely clean slate, are there any things, topics that you might be interested in learning about? Do you like to write? Do you like to read?

Christa Romano: Do you like to do math? Do you like to look at charts and graphs? Like all of these things, I want you to think about those things, like who are you as a person and what lights you up? What makes you feel good? What makes you feel like you are contributing? How do you want to contribute? How do you want to give back to the world?

Christa Romano: Etc. So, you know, if I were to take you through this process, I would give you a guideline and a format to follow so that it would be easy for you to think about. think through all this stuff because you can just fill out my form. Um, but if you're trying to do it yourself, the point is do a deep dive in who you are at your core, at your essence, and what is it that you value?

Christa Romano: And then once you know all of those things, now you can start thinking about, okay, [00:39:00] what kind of careers would match this? Now you can take like personality tests and stuff. I personally find those to be very general and not considering remote options. Like it might tell you that, Oh, if you like this and this, then you should be a teacher or an engineer.

Christa Romano: And you're like, how can I do those things remotely? So. The point is you can do anything or there's so many things that you can do remotely but yeah I think currently even AI doesn't really understand that. I need to make my own AI. If anybody here listening by the way is like an AI genius please reach out to me and I would love to collaborate with you to take what's in my mind and turn it into artificial intelligence.

Christa Romano: But for now, you're just going to have to work with me personally if you do want my support on that. Anyway, I guarantee you I can help you come up with a remote business idea that does make sense for your personality, for your interests, for your strengths, for accommodating your weaknesses, and taking into account your short term and long term goals.

Christa Romano: Your short term and long term goals Could be how much money are [00:40:00] you feeling comfortable making today? And how much money would you dream of making in say five years? What are you comfortable learning and doing today? And how do you see yourself working in five years, et cetera, in 10 years, et cetera. So that really is the first thing.

Christa Romano: Take that big inventory of who you are and then start thinking about what you can do to narrow it down from there. Now, Again, there are so many ways that you can make money and there are so many different business models out there as well.

Christa Romano: But the business model that I prefer to teach my clients and the one that I think is going to get people the quote result of being a digital nomad the fastest is the small service provider model. That means that yes, you are trading your time for money, but guess what? There is literally no business where you don't trade any of your time for money.

Christa Romano: Passive income is a myth because you have to spend a lot of time building up that passive income. And if you are listening to this [00:41:00] podcast specifically, time is probably of the essence for you. You probably want to change your life in a year, not in 10 years. So if you want to change your life within this year, The small service provider model is the fastest way that you're going to be able to make a big change in your life.

Christa Romano: And that means coming up with some kind of service that you can offer to a specific person that you reasonably can charge like a high ticket offer for. And if that's over your head, Do you know what? I actually have a free training that I think would be the better thing for you to watch right now. because I think this podcast is getting long and I don't want to go totally off topic of like how to move abroad.

Christa Romano: you can scroll down below and watch it. Click the link that says Roadmap. That is my 12 week roadmap to becoming a digital nomad. You can also always slide into my DMs on Instagram and send me that word Roadmap and I will send you that free training. Again, it's like 30 minutes and it really what it [00:42:00] does is it just goes over my philosophy on the best and fastest way for you to start making an income from anywhere in the world.

Christa Romano: Again, doing work that's actually aligned with your personality, with your strengths, with your skills. So, I'll just wrap this up by saying that I am so glad that you found this podcast because I think you're listening to this podcast probably because you are experiencing some fear. And you might even be experiencing fear because you just have no idea or you had no idea if moving abroad would be feasible for you.

Christa Romano: But, I really hold the belief that anybody can change their life. I mean, people have been doing it for millennials, moving abroad, immigrating. You still can. The difference is that today with digital nomadism, you can not just immigrate, but you can be a well paid nomad. very comfortable, freedom focused, fun [00:43:00] loving person with a career that is super respectable and amazing.

Christa Romano: Whereas before, if you were an immigrant or, you know, a pioneer or something, like you really had to make some pretty massive sacrifices. But when you're a digital nomad, you just don't, you don't need to sacrifice. Like you might need to sacrifice a few weekends at first when you're building up your business.

Christa Romano: But other than that, it's just amazing. It really, really is. And I wish for everyone to be able to experience this level of freedom and fulfillment. And it could be you, it could be you, freedom and fulfillment and living in a place that brings out the softness in you, not the survival in you, which may be, may be where you are right now in light of recent political events, you do feel like you're in survival mode.

Christa Romano: So calm your nervous system. Keep an open mind, stay optimistic, stay positive, dream big, and shoot me a message on Instagram @christabellatravels  if [00:44:00] you have any questions about the content of this episode, about how it could be applied to your life personally. You can do this. And the world's not gonna fall apart, I swear.

Christa Romano: Neither is your country. You're gonna be okay. I love you. Okay, talk soon. See you in the next episode. Bye!

Christa Romano: Neither is your country. You're gonna be okay. I love you.