wow thank you so much Jansen for this message, great question too! I will try to go more depth about my whole experience.

When I first went to chiang mai thailand mid 2016. I had just digested all this new info of working for yourself and building a business that you can grow and then I also stumbled on videos of people living in chiang mai and sharing how cheap it was. So I put these two things together and took the leap and booked my ticket to thailand but with no real plan on how I will make money. I was also fueled by the fact I wasn't totally happy working for someone else when I knew I could use that time to grow my own business instead of someone elses. But not only that I was getting really really down and putting on weight and getting sick a lot. But I am TOTALLY grateful I was able to work there because It lead me to where I am today.

I had a good amount of saving (from my 9-5 job) enough to cover 3 months in a nice apartment in chiang mai, food and bills. I knew I wouldn't be making much because I was just dabbling in different ways to make money to see what I liked best. I was doing pretty low paying freelance jobs at that time nothing consistant.

When I returned back to Australia I was in a funk for like 3 months making more or less the same as I was in thailand but was also working digital products for my online etsy shop. At 5 months I was so DONE I knew I had to get back to thailand and pretty much get out of my parent's place because I hated being there and feeling like I was stuck. So within a month I was able to make enough to book tickets and for accommodation MUCH cheaper run down thai apartment. It happened so fast by upping my price I was creating pitch decks for businesses when I started which was when I landed back in Australia I was doing $40 per pitch deck but as I got better I was able to charge $250-$300 USD+ per pitch deck.

Back at Chaing Mai Round Two. I was staying in a tiny studio room this time (with my boyfriend he freelancing too now doing writing jobs) This time the money we were using for accommodation and food was all money we had made ourself so we were definately living a lot more cheaply. My first etsy shop grew but my vision for it changed so I started a second one which I could make better and higher priced products. All digital products so I could create something once and sell it over and over again so it was like passive income.

Anyways why I wanted to get back to Australia was because my lifestyle in thailand although good for the amount of money I was making it wasn't my dream lifestyle. I was working pretty much 7 days not intense work. I had no friends here to do social things so It just felt right to keep working, I missed being able to go for nice walks around town (thailand too hot humid and a little stressful from the traffic around you) I missed being able to have a kitchen and groceries (in thailand it's SO much cheaper to eat out every meal than to buy a bunch of groceries and cook plus didn't have a kitchen in my studio room) I wanted a place again where I could put my own furniture having an address I could get mail sent to. Having a little more than small suitcase full of clothes. I know It sounds sooooooooo dumb and first world :P

I also knew living back in Australia it would raise my standards and It would push myself to make more money and grow my business because as you know Australia is freaking expensive :P. Being in thailand my mindset was different it was just about make enough to get by which you didn't need that much anyways. But in Australia you have to step up and get serious about your work because rent and just living here is so much more. So other than loving living in Australia and the lifestyle it was a really good challenge for me too. Work and traveling is great but it's also mentally exhausting when you don't have your shit together, you haven't gotten your money right and you're just scrapping by and working more than getting out there and exploring your destination.

I also still love travelling I want to go to Japan and Greece and America but I want to go there and enjoy myself and not be there to find cafes and co-working places to work at. And knowing I can go back to my own home after my trip.

THAT all being said this is just my case and what my goals were but there are a LOT of Digital Nomads that enjoy this lifestyle and keep going to new place to new place and are there to network with other people doing similar things. I would NEVER take back my experience and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to. I just changed my goals, not because being a digital nomad isn't fun because I know it can be but I wanted something different.

Oh and to add when I started in 2016 what I was doing to earn money kept changing so i wasn't earning the same so that why I went from okay to broke to okay again :P But since you are already a freelance video game developer you can skip so much of that 'figuring money stuff out' part and go straight a head to the going overseas and working and traveling It's a big weight off your chest when you know how you're making your money and have been doing it for a while. Then what I did and going through it blindly and making it up while being super super frugal.

I hope that rumbling and jumbled sentences makes some sense :P Thank you sooo much again for taking your time to watch my video and write your comment. I appreciate it so so much!