Is It Possible to Live Off the Grid and Still Make A Living as A Digital Nomad?
There are an abundance of articles about how to make money when you go off the grid. In many of them, certain details give away the simple fact that they were written by people who have either never lived off the grid or haven’t done basic research.
Many of them don’t really know what off-grid means. Some picture complete isolation and a life without tech. However, did you know that it’s possible to run a business from the Great Pyramids of Egypt or the North Pole via the cloud — and still be off-grid?
So what does living off the grid mean, anyways?
Living off-grid means a variety of things, but mostly it refers to living off the main power grid. Many off-gridders take it a step further by subsisting outside of the national and local networks (internet, cable TV, sewage, water, phone, etc.), and then there’s the super extreme end of the spectrum who live without any sort of identification to become invisible to governments.
If you choose to live off the grid you will need to find a way to manage your utilities and generate your own power via wind, solar, hydro, or other tech. As a digital nomad, you’ll need some form of power. But there’s another question worth asking...
Why do you want to live off the grid?
I think the appeal of off-grid living will continue to grow alongside the digital nomad movement. Furthermore, these two lifestyle choices fit together well. At first, it seems a bit counterintuitive — the idea that you could move off the grid, a less tech-based life and still function in a digital world. But for many, the appeal of going off the grid is rooted in being eco-friendly.
In a brilliant article on Workflowmax, one of their writers and her husband designed their off-grid dream home for that exact reason. They use solar panels for power, a worm farm for recycling their sewage and greywater, and rainwater collection for drinking water. They have chicken for scratching around and egg supply, a small flock of sheep for meat, gardens for fruits and vegetables, and a couple of cats for pest control. In their case, the only connection they kept to the grid was internet via broadband cable because most of the writer’s work is done online. Satellite internet, in the author’s words, wasn’t going to provide the quality or speed she needed.
It’s important to note that she made concessions to the grid where necessary because going off the grid shouldn’t be based around arbitrary principles. You need to know your reasons so that you can build a plan that’s compatible with your principles and your career or business as a remote traveller.
She also mentions that:
They cook and heat water using gas
They don’t run appliances like electric heating, air-conditioning, or big gaming PCs
All of their lights are LEDs
They turn off every appliance when not in use
They have 10 solar panels and a battery bank to store power they generate (they can store 3 days worth of power without the sun)
The writer also states that on their power system they run a chest freezer, a fridge, all of their lights, a TV and DVD player, two iMacs, a fan, her husband’s music recording and speaker equipment, and whatever power tools they need. Because of the company she works for and the particular type of work the author does, their entire team operates through cloud-based software. She writes blog posts on Google Docs and adds her spreadsheets to Google Drive; Trello to track the projects the team is working on; and Hubspot to schedule blog and social media posts.
All of this talk of establishing a residence might also seem to go against the idea of being a digital nomad, but I’d argue that what really defines the term is the ability to be untethered from an office, therefore being location independent and to have more control over your making your own schedule than the average person.
Okay, so by that definition, it is fully possible to make a living off the grid as a digital nomad, but there are a couple other things you need to figure out first, which brings us to...
How much money do you need to live as an off-grid digital nomad?
You can go about this a few different ways. The first way is to disconnect from public utilities. You’ll need to gain energy-independence for your home. Your best option is probably to retrofit your home with solar panels. Consult a solar power installation company to get a better idea of how to connect your home to a solar panel system.
The average installation costs of a solar power system including panels, a backup generator, a battery, and professional installation comes out to roughly $40,000 USD.
Install a backup power supply to supplement your solar panels — especially in weather inconsistent areas. If you live near a creek or a river, consider a micro hydropower turbine as a backup system. Alternatively, you could get a wind turbine installed near your residence.
A domestic wind turbine costs roughly $10,000 USD. A micro hydropower turbine can range in price from a small one at around $7,000 USD to a large one, which can exceed $55,000 USD.
You’re also going to want to try to keep your energy consumption down. Since your electricity is coming off the grid,, replace incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. This will reduce electricity use by 75%.
It’s also worth drilling a well since you won’t be connected to a central water system. Well drilling usually costs somewhere around $7,000 USD.
Get a septic tank installed — or use a worm farm like the Workflowmax writer and her husband have. If you go the septic tank route in the absence of a sewer system, it will cost you around $5,000 USD.
Install a greywater system. Greywater systems treat the water you use for dishwashing, showers, baths, and washing clothes so you can use it again. Your well will last longer if you install a greywater system because you’ll be using water that has already been pumped to the surface. Remember, recycled water can also be used in irrigation.
For food security, you have a number of options. Growing a garden is the first option and one that you should opt for to supplement the others if you choose to have additional means of self-sustenance. You can hunt and fish for food using firearms, a hunting bow, or traps. Or maybe you’re more like me and you’d prefer to forage for wild berries, nuts, fungi, and fruit.
As for the home itself, you can search for an existing residence that meets your qualifications, whether that’s a tiny home, a trailer, or another domicile. You could have a home built from scratch. Just make sure to work with a contract that has proven experience in off the grid housing. If that’s the route you choose, keep an eye out for cheap land online and in property auctions for the desired area you wish to live. Another option is to join an off the grid community.
Going off the grid isn’t really a financial decision as much as it’s a lifestyle decision. Save up a large amount of money before committing to it. Once you go down this path, you don’t want to have to de-commit because you find yourself unable to pay for repairs and upgrades when you need them.
Saving money is one half of the equation, but there’s one last and perhaps most critical question left to ask…
How do you make money as a digital nomad off the grid?
You can expect to see a rise in people looking to get off the grid just as we’ve seen interest peak around living the location independent lifestyle. We’ve witnessed the beginning of an exodus from big cities as the cost of living continues to rise. There’s an intrinsic desire to break from the old ways. So first, consider if you can capitalize on that if you’re already leaning towards an off the grid life.
Could you create content for people interested in following your lead and learning from you? Absolutely. You can monetize a blog, write a book on the topic, and produce videos. You could also welcome others into your ecosystem and participate in an off the grid exchange program.
If you’re a social media wiz, you can help people grow their business or let’s say you have outstanding organizational skills, then perhaps managing peoples’ schedules as a personal virtual assistant would be a good fit.
You can make money off the grid as a business strategist, a writer, a book publisher, or someone who runs dropshipping, e-commerce or affiliate sites. As long as your goal isn’t to become invisible to governments, it’s actually well-aligned with your digital nomad life.
For some other creative ways to achieve location independence, check out this article on remote businesses you can build anywhere in the world or this article on businesses you can start for under $1,000 from anywhere in the world.