My Story
My name is Shani and i'm a physiotherapist from the UK
After a pretty rough year in 2017 I put my head down and saved my tail off so I could get away and in October 2018 I quit my job and left for my 'big trip'. I was lucky enough to travel for a year and a half and during my time travelling I felt so much freedom, exploring beautiful places, meeting amazing people and living a life primarily on my own watch.
Due to the COVID pandemic, like so many others, I was forced to end my travels and return home. Once home, I fell straight back into my old job at the local hospital working a traditional 9-5 role (plus numerous weekends and on-call shifts, cos healthcare...). It didn't take long for me to realise I wasn't happy or fulfilled being in the same old routine, I wanted to get back on the road as soon as I could. I didn't want to trade my time for money and be constantly waiting for the weekend to come around again (the ones I wasn't working). This is when I started my journey to try and earn an online income which would give me the potential to work from anywhere in the world and live my life on my own terms.
Being able to work from my laptop would mean being able to work from anywhere in the world allowing me to work as I travel, on the go, and this, for me, was the goal!
Problems and Solutions
Even within a successful 18 months of travel I could still feel my limitations. Before I left in 2018, I worked and saved which allowed me a generous 5 months of exploring, but eventually my funds began to run low and I needed to work again. Fortunately, I had a working visa in Australia so I could explore the vast country and stop off and work along the way which created the pattern of:
WORK > SAVE > TRAVEL > WORK > SAVE > TRAVEL
I was acutely aware however, that not all countries would allow me a working visa. Would I have to keep coming home to work every time I needed to save money again? The ability to travel freely would always be limited by the need to stop, work and earn money in some capacity.
March 2020
I started to think about how this work and travel relationship could be more fluid. I did tons of research on working remotely and earning an online income. I kept coming cross affiliate marketing and other online business models. They all sounded great, but how was I ever going to be able to do this? I'm a physio, I don't know anything about the online space, I don't have any products to sell. Can I really afford to invest my money into starting a project like this?
I continued with a cycle of researching online incomes and feeling like it wasn't viable for someone like me for nearly a year UNTIL...
February 2021
A particularly bad week at work and a visa cancellation for New Zealand due to the ongoing COVID restrictions, now inhibited the ability for me to work abroad as a physio. It was my line in the sand moment. How was I ever going to save enough money to travel again now that I knew I wouldn't be able to work along the way? Will I only ever be able to take a week or two off from work at a time to go on holiday with annual leave restrictions? Perhaps I was being a bit dramatic but ultimately I decided I'd had enough and I needed to do something to change the trajectory.
My internal narrative sounded something like this: How can I keep complaining about my situation if i'm not going to change it? WHY can't I learn the skills needed to make this work? Why shouldn't I invest some money into myself and the future I want? If I can make this work I won't need to worry about work visas. At least I still have the security of my 9-5 job at the moment if it doesn't work out. How will I feel being in the same situation 5 years down the line and thinking WHAT IF? If I don't try, I'll never know. SO...
March 2021
I took the leap. I'd researched enough. I knew what I wanted and I had an idea what route I wanted to go down to get me there. I invested. I chose a training program which resonated with my beliefs and values, which I felt would give me the necessary tools and training I needed to get started. AND HERE WE ARE!
I was fortunate enough that the working holiday visa reopened just in time for me to apply (before New Zealand considered me too old!) So I'm now out here living my best van life in New Zealand, exploring and continuing to build on the freedom lifestyle I have been working towards!
Disclaimer: I have and still will continue to pick up short term physio roles around New Zealand to keep my skills up to date.
