Guest
The Everyday Designer #18 — Living & Working Abroad: What Freelancers Need To Think About Before Moving
Guest post by Jack Redley
October 1, 2022
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5 min
Guest post by Jack Redley
In 2019, I was a hopeless, naive and inexperienced freelancer who had seen too many Instagram posts about digital nomad life (yes, I hate that phrase too). I had read the 4 hour work week by Tim Ferris and I thought all my mate’s who were off to get grad schemes in London had missed a trick. Straight after university, with a couple of freelance design projects and little else, I headed to Porto in Portugal.
After 6 months in Porto, I had no money, no clients and disappointed parents. With my bank account looking bleak and as covid started, I came back to England with my tail between my legs.
So what went wrong? How can you avoid the same mistakes I did? And as I plan to move to Barcelona in April, how am I thinking differently about living and working abroad which could apply to you?
Some of these are more obvious than others but I hope this article helps you think about moving abroad more carefully if you are aspiring to move abroad.
Looks idyllic but I was actually fucking stressed. Instagram vs reality eh? Classic social media.
If you don’t have at least some depth of skillset and experience when you try to live and work abroad as a Webflower, I found that it’s a real struggle. I was trying to learn Webflow while trying to get clients which is hard enough. On top of this though, I was trying to make friends in a place where I struggled to speak the language, find a flat to live in while I lived in a hostel for a month, understand the transport system etc etc.
Your first year of freelancing is hard. It’s made 2X harder while trying to navigate the cultural nuances of living in a foreign country.
LESSON: I wish I had learnt webflow more comprehensively, got some confidence as a freelancer and then moved abroad. It would have saved me so much stress!
Initially, when I moved abroad, I had no secure income (well, no income at all actually). As you well know, freelancing can be hard with irregular cashflow but I think it’s best to have at least a solid retainer client before moving abroad. This means that you know you will have your rent paid before you start your new life in a different country.
You will have lots of life admin to do when you arrive in your new country so having a solid retainer client will really help with that. Want to know how to get a retainer? Check out this article here.
LESSON: I wish I learnt webflow, got some confidence as a freelancer and then moved abroad. It would have saved me so much stress!
Obviously, when you move abroad, you won’t have the same immediate network that you do wherever you are living now. What I didn’t realise is how hard it would be to make friends with local people. Depending on your language ability, it can take months to make local friends so what I wish I did better before leaving abroad is to build a network online of international friends. This means that someone you know from your online community network will know someone who can show you the ropes of the new place your at.
Check out this article here if you want to get involved with online communities.
LESSON: Cultivate a strong online community by consistently showing up to help others.
I chose to move to Porto to be relatively close to family (I’m from the UK) but also quite a friendly time zone. I previously lived in São Paulo for 6 months and that was difficult to call the UK and since (I thought) clients might be mainly from there, I wanted to make sure I could take calls easily etc.
LESSON: Time Zones might be important to consider. Check out Charli Marie’s excellent video on this though!
I found when you move abroad, you want to see local sights, go on nights out, meet people and you don’t focus enough on doing the basics well - sleeping well, exercising, eating fresh fruit and veg and all that jazz. Basically, you forget to look after yourself properly and that makes freelancing even harder!
LESSON: Yes, drink in the sights, enjoy the culture and get out there BUT it’s important to remember that to manage freelancing successfully, having a decent routine is crucial.
This is the big lesson. Know what the tax policies are of wherever you move → if you plan on staying there a while, maybe it makes sense to move your business there (if you are from the EU and you are moving to another EU country, it might make sense).
Digital Nomad Visas are a new change recently - check out this comprehensive list here
A friend of mine from the UK moved to France and got kicked out after overstaying their 2 month welcome. Ensure you don’t move blindly without researching these things!
Best of luck moving! 🍀
Dm me if you have any questions about this article here.
If you enjoyed this article, I write a weekly newsletter you may well be interested in called the Webflail Roundup. It’s for freelance Webflowers who want to flail less and flow more. Check it out here.
I love sharing what I’ve been up to lately and this is one way for me to let you in on what’s been happening in my life.
🗞 Currently inspired: Lex Fridman — Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI: an incredible episode with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI that leaves me with more hope than despair of the future of humanity and that AI will be used majority for good and not for evil.
🎧 Currently listening: A Change of Brand: a podcast about “the world’s most loved consumer companies and their rebrand glory, drama, or disaster.” I listened to the Sagi Haviv episode on the new logo for the US Open, and I get so giddy listening to Sagi get nerdy about design decisions and user research.
🤖 Currently excited: ChatGPT 4.0: The amount of outputs I’ve been able to pull from this update, with such speed and accuracy is mind-blowing. Definitely see my productivity levels rising.
