10 Steps
to live a
laptop lifestyle
- THE WAY WE DID IT -
1 - Mindset
It all starts with this. Mindset is the most important part. I’ve always lived
my life being aware that I only have this one life, and that I want to fill it
with the places and people that make my heart sing and that I want to
explore as much as possible in the time that I’m given on this beautiful
planet. Lately I’ve also come to terms with the fact that I want to be as kind
as possible to myself while I’m here.
That’s the reason why I basically jumped at some fantastic opportunities to
live abroad which were offered to me throughout the years - I went to uni in
Wales, worked in the States for 6 months, spent 3 months in total with my
Californian family, etc - and I also actively created opportunities like these
for myself. We moved to live in England for three years after I had fallen in
love with Britain during uni, then, we moved on to beautiful Berlin which had
also been high up on our bucket list for a while. Now, the laptop lifestyle in
Italy, England and Germany.
It all starts with freeing your mind, and here is where mindset comes into
place. I think in that regard, I’ve been pretty much rooted in a very firm
mindset all my life. I know what I want, and I know that I can get it. All I
need to do is to make the choice to get it, and then go after it. If you think
you would need a little bit more help to establish this mindset, here are a
few books that are pretty helpful to establish a concrete mindset to go on
adventures like a laptop lifestyle: T. Harv Eker - Secrets of the Millionaire
Mind and of course, laptop lifestyle guru Timothy Ferriss and his book The
4-Hour Work Week. Chances are, however, that if you’re reading this you’re
already pretty open to this concept which is the most important thing and
the best point to get started from!
2 - Create an online business now
Creating an online business (at least in parts), is a great way to become
more location independent - which of course, the laptop lifestyle is all
about. We all have something valuable to give, some knowledge to share
that will help others to achieve great results. What is it that you have? What
are you really good at? What is your expertise? Which questions do you get
asked by your tribe again and again?
You can package this knowledge up and make it available online. It can be
an e-book, an online course, audio files, whatever feels good to you. Create
it, set a price and offer it to your audience. Voilà, you have just created your
first downloadable product. The beautiful thing about this is that you have
created something that can be sold 24/7 which means you can make
passive income while you’re out and about, sleeping, meeting your friends,
traveling, whatever.
So, what are you gonna sell? My advice: always create from a point of view
how you can help others. Never create just from the need to make money.
And: don’t overcomplicate this. You don’t even need to create an online
shop as I do, you can simply write a landing page and take things from
there.
3 - Decide, and act quickly
At one point, in order to ever make any dream happen – in our case living a
laptop lifestyle - you have to decide to go for it, and then take massive
action!
Time doesn’t stand still! For us, it happened unexpectedly: out of a whim, on
a Saturday morning over coffee, we decided to leave Berlin. Suddenly, what
had been just an idea for a while turned into a concise plan: Matthias would
leave his job to work with me in the business, we’d put (almost) everything
we own into storage, take the car and go on a roadtrip to the places we
love. With two laptops, two cameras, and a car. From that point on, we acted quickly and even tried to fast-forward things.
For example, we had to give a 3-months period of notice for our apartment
but we advertised it to be available one month earlier in order to be able to
really get going with our plan – which was to spend March in Italy. Once we
took the decision, we did not think twice about things but just went on with
our plan. Even if it was scary sometimes.
4 - Let Go of the Junk
Living the laptop lifestyle requires letting go of a lot of things, material and
immaterial. It could be also called the simple life. Everything is boiled down
to its essence, to a bare minimum. We have 6 cardboard boxes, two
suitcases and a few smaller bags with us on our road trip. That’s it!
We let go of many things we didn’t want to put into storage (two sofas, an
outdoor bbq, a bed, several cupboards, our complete kitchen, and stacks of
books and magazines I had collected over the years, plus, bags of clothes
that didn’t feel like us anymore). This wasn’t easy, but hello, comfort zone!
You ain’t gonna hold us back!
Oh, and another advice: start now. Once you’re in the swing of things
planning your laptop lifestyle, you won’t have a lot of time sorting through
your closets and rooms. So start now. There are a couple of things that I
know off the top of my head that I wanted to sell but didn’t have time
anymore. They either ended in the trash bin or in storage (not sure how
happy I will be to see them again in a couple of months, or... years?!)
5 - Make the most of
’
today s possibilities
We’re living in a very free
world, we have a lot of options
at our hands. We can change
jobs, resign from jobs, become
our own boss, we can sell
things, put things into storage
(which is such a great
invention of today’s times), we
can ask others to store things
for us (parents, good friends),
we can work online and
abroad, we can travel freely
(most of the times), we can live
a simple life on the road and
are able to buy almost
everything we might need
wherever we are at the time.
We’re even health insured while being on the road! Never before has life been
so easy and so free at the same time. I can only encourage you to think about
it, and to make the most of it for your life.
It’s a beautiful life we can live, if only we decide to do it. No excuses, ok? Not
your kids, not your job, not even your pension is an excuse enough (in my eyes)
to not go after a big dream. Nope, not speaking a foreign language isn’t either.
Rise with the challenge! 6 - Put things into storage
In order to save money, we put all our belongings (at least what
remained of them) into storage in Berlin.
We only pay a small percentage of what we would have paid if we kept the
rented apartment and hence, we’re now free to go wherever we please. I’m
so thankful there is the option to put my stuff into storage somewhere so I
can just leave.
I don’t need to worry about it anymore, It’s there waiting for me until I come
back to pick it up. 7 - Be strong
This is probably the hardest part of all. During the weeks in which we got
ready for our laptop lifestyle life, I had several moments in which I could
have easily cancelled all our plans. My comfort zone, old mindset
structures… they were kicking in, telling me ‚it’s nice as it is, why do I make
it so complicated, why can I not just stay and continue living where I am,
and doesn’t I expect too much of life in general? Isn’t this all ridiculous? I
mean, who does this, leaving all your stuff behind and going on a road trip
through several countries?‘
Listen, you have to be strong here. You really have to be prepared to push
these thoughts away, and to just. concentrate. on. the. OUTCOME. The
destination. I recognized these thoughts from the time when we moved to
England which was of course very emotional the closer we got to the point
of leaving. But I always knew that there was so much to be looking forward
to. And that’s exactly what happened. Leaving is never easy but it’s the
outcome I focused on. So don’t be fooled by your comfort zone. It’s going to
be hard, yes, but you are stronger. You can do it. Just, do it.
8 - Do it, share it, live it
Which brings me to another point. Once you are on the road, start
sharing your experiences, thoughts, break-throughs, even your
setbacks, with your tribe.
This way they will be able to connect with you, dream with you, be
inspired by you and will want to continue following you.
9 - Create work opportunities
for yourself wherever you go
Once you’re on the road, tell people what you are doing and start offering
your service locally. You never know who might need what you are offering
while you’re around!
10 - Mindset, always
I said it, and I say it again. Mindset is the foundation on which all of this is
built.
It’s the most important part of this journey. Without the right mindset,
which is grounded on a deep belief that the freedom we have available in
life nowadays is a-ma-zing and that we should make the most of it, I’d never
moved anywhere, let alone abroad.
I pushed through a lot of boundaries, I also saw my parents crying and
suffering for days when we told them about our move (which is
heartbreaking and really puts a lot of plans to the test!) but deep within I
knew I’m on the right path. The path that is mine. Not someone else’s but
mine.
So the mindset that, what we want is out there to get even if it’s not
comfortable (especially in the beginning, when we’re not there yet), to
realize this, is essential. Everything is possible, you just have to know what
you want, and then want it enough to go and get it.
These doubts, these fears, these thoughts of ‚this is not for me, only for
others‘ - let them not hold you back. If you want my help, my
encouragement and advice on how YOU CAN DO IT as welI, in my 1-hour
Skype sessions, as well as in my mentoring program, I’ll be supporting you
every step of the way to create the life and business that YOU want.
So, if you think this is something you would love to do but you don’t really
know how to, please get in touch at [email protected] and we take
it from there. Together we’re going to be digging deep to reveal what it is
you need to focus on in order to make this happen for you as well!!
With much love,
Christine
CHRISTINEJUETTE.COM