So you finally have made the decision to pursue your career online. Or perhaps you are already earning a living as you travel around the world. Whatever the case may be, there is always space for improvement. The greatest method for a digital nomad to grow is to immerse themselves in market research.
Digital nomads are fully aware that our passion and ambition in life also come with a high price. Reading about travel is sometimes the second best thing you can do at the moment.
Exploring novels, city guides, and the stories of successful nomads can give you invaluable information and motivation. Some nomads even admit that their decision to become a nomad was influenced by the tale of someone’s great trip.
There are many informative books to assist you in leveling up your game, whether you are a traveling CEO, a vagabond freelancer, or a true beginner in the digital nomad world.
Here are the eight best books for you to get started with the next phase of growth. You can add these books to your booklist to help you overcome those first crucial steps toward remote work or build up your burgeoning empire.
| 8 Best Books for How to Work Remotely |
|---|
| The 4-Hour Workweek |
| Vagabonding |
| Be a Free Range Human |
| Remote |
| Virtual Freedom |
| The $100 Startup |
| Travel While You Work |
| The Laptop Millionaire |
Best Books for How to Work Remotely
1. The 4-Hour Workweek By Tim Ferriss
The 4-Hour Workweek is perhaps the most famous book for digital nomads. Given its age (initially released in 2007), most of the information contained in the book is still relevant.
Since Tim Ferriss’ first New York Times bestseller, many things have changed in the world of digital business. But somehow, the words stated in the book still provide value to this day.
Ferris speaks passionately about his desire to abandon his 9-to-5 job and adopt lifestyle design concepts to allow more time for travel, better health, and more productivity.
Most of the methods outlined in the book are typical standard practices among digital nomads.
2. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Vagabonding, a how-to book for would-be global travelers, explains the details of permanent travel.
Given that the book was written in 2002, author Rolf Potts doesn’t provide much information about the digital nomad lifestyle specifically. However, he does offer words of wisdom on how to adjust to other cultures, face various difficulties, and go as far as possible on a shoestring budget. Before you jump into the granular specifics of working remote, I would suggest getting your travel mindset prepared with this book.
While many best books for digital nomads focus on business, Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding emphasizes the traveling aspect, describing how to afford long-term trips, adapt to a nomadic life, and deal with the cultural shock that comes with making the switch.
The book, written with a great sense of humor and first-person experiences, urges you to try out a few suggestions for yourself and debunks the myth that traveling usually costs a lot of money. This book is excellent for people who have never traveled too far away or those who have not traveled for prolonged periods of time.
3. Be a Free Range Human by Marianne Cantwell
Getting the right balance between work and life can be difficult for digital nomads, just like people back home.
Throughout this book, Cantwell shows us how to work remote on our own terms by stepping out from the standard 9-to-5 mindset. You can find a way to live a full life by focusing on what genuinely brings you joy.
Despite not being explicitly targeted at digital nomads, the book has a lot of valuable topics that will help anyone looking to start a thriving internet business. Digital nomads don’t necessarily have to travel all the time, but the important thing is having the option to (whenever the f*** you feel like it). Being a free range human and having freedom is really what it’s about.
It’s also chock-full of motivational anecdotes that will assist any reader looking to adopt a minimalist lifestyle. Collect experiences, not things…ya feel?
4. Remote by Jason Fried
Jason Fried is a popular name in the startup world who has written numerous books on remote working and strategies for a successful business. This book is co-authored by David Heinemeier Hansson and talks about the advantages of working remotely.
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson have co-authored many books and also built a highly successful organizational tool for remote working known as Basecamp (previously 37signals).
Although Remote does not particularly address the digital nomad lifestyle, it does an excellent job of showcasing the benefits of working from home. Again, it’s about the freedom of working wherever the hell you want, whether that’s on the beach or the comfort of your home.
The book talks about the concepts of working remotely and teaches how to apply them practically. Whether you are a freelancer, full-time employee, or entrepreneur, this book will offer you numerous advantages of remote working.
While several books explain becoming a digital nomad, Remote shows us how offices are anti-productive, 9-5 jobs are unnatural, and remote workers are the happiest and most productive in the world.
5. Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker
Another addition to the list of digital nomad classics, this book by Chris Ducker gives insights into how to build an outsourced business without worrying about the location.
Virtual Freedom shows you how to build a location-independent outsourcing business step by step. More importantly, he provides some pretty interesting information on how quickly you can expand your online business.
You can learn how to find, recruit, train, supervise, and encourage virtual employees and how outsourcing can help you save time and thereby increase production.
This is the perfect book for acquiring knowledge about start-ups and learning and contemplating ideas on working from anywhere.
6. The $100 Startup by Chris Gillebeau
Chris Guillebeau is an American entrepreneur, speaker, author, and blogger. This book is also considered one of the best books for digital nomad entrepreneurs as it contains tons of tips from successful small businesses.
As Guillebeau visited all of the countries in the world, he encountered amazing people who were able to turn their small investments—mostly just $100 and below—into successful, lucrative businesses.
Here, you will discover the characteristics that all of these successful business owners share. One such characteristic is having a strong passion for their field. With this passion, they came up with clever ideas to earn money while enjoying themselves.
As you will read in this book, most of the entrepreneurs Guillebeau features didn’t have the “right skills.” But with determination, they learned and developed the skills they needed as they worked on their businesses.
Even if you haven’t personally met many successful digital nomad entrepreneurs, reading this book will teach you so many things. This will serve as your guide when starting your digital nomad business even if you have a small capital to begin with. And when your digital nomad business starts picking up, you can scale it to the size you want.
7. Travel While You Work by Mish Slade
Travel While You Work is an excellent book for digital nomads written by Mish Slade. She has written what is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive guide to being location independent and having a happy, enjoyable life on the road.
Mish has finally covered everything there is to know about traveling, working, and hustling and has nicely wrapped it all into this life-saving digital nomad book that all prospective remote workers must have.
After reading this book, you will get all of the resources you need to begin your new nomadic life. If applied, you will have complete control over everything you’re doing. You can make informed judgments on where you want to go and how you want to spend your time.
This book reflects the diversity of her experience. It addresses practically every issue a traveler has, from finding decent connection speeds and digital nomad connections to buying SIM cards and overseas health insurance.
She even mentions where you can find soundless fitness videos to use in your new residence outside of your native country!
8. The Laptop Millionaire by Mark Anastasi
This book by Mark Anastasi provides a stepping stone for everyone interested in trying their hand at something other than their typical 9-5 job. The possibilities are unlimited in terms of the money you can make, if you make smart decisions throughout your career.
Anastasi is quite honest about all of the techniques and tips he utilized to become a laptop millionaire, and he does so in a realistic and intriguing manner. It is not a get-rich-fast book, even if you do manage to do so.
Several people featured in this book researched their specialized markets or explored various strategies for at least one month—if not more—before they started and generated enough sales to support themselves.
You will get fresh ideas and inspiration for reaching out to new customers. Mark provides you with a lot of wonderful ideas in various areas, so you can find which ones work for your venture and which ones don’t. Since every chapter has its own segment, it is not required to read the book from beginning to end.
Tell Us Your Favorite
To be a digital nomad is a one-of-a-kind experience with no single strategy. You have to find what works for you. It can, however, raise a lot of questions. Mainly, how do other individuals go about doing this?
To answer that and many other questions, there are a lot of books about remote work available. Even if they don’t label themselves for “digital nomads,” they cover various facets of the location-independent lifestyle.
The books mentioned above are essential resources for anyone interested in becoming a remote professional and traveling the world. I had to learn all of these lessons too before I started traveling, and that’s why all of these books have passed by my bedside table (also in my Audible and Kindle nowadays since the physical books would take up too much space lol). You can see the diversity in methods and find new ways to boost your remote work life. Add them to your reading list and share which ones you enjoyed the most!