---
title: 'DONT be a Digital Nomad Until You Watch This (Brutally Honest Reality)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=-XANgmgylyE'
video_id: '-XANgmgylyE'
date: 2026-06-29
duration_sec: 959
---

# DONT be a Digital Nomad Until You Watch This (Brutally Honest Reality)

> Source: [DONT be a Digital Nomad Until You Watch This (Brutally Honest Reality)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=-XANgmgylyE)

## Summary

The speaker critiques the glamorous portrayal of the digital nomad lifestyle on social media, arguing it's often a fake representation aimed at selling courses or products. He admits being a digital nomad is the best experience of his life, but only for the right reasons: a genuine love for new experiences and taking advantage of financial arbitrage to reduce entrepreneurial stress. For others, it can be wildly disappointing.

### Key Points

- **Fake social media lifestyle** [0:16] — Most content from digital nomads is fake, showing laptops on beaches for photos only, not actual work.
- **Get-rich-quick mentality** [3:55] — Digital nomading attracts scammers similar to industries like digital marketing, crypto, and Forex trading.
- **Red flag: selling courses** [5:00] — If a digital nomad tries to sell you a course or product, it's a sign of a fake lifestyle.
- **Wrong reason: baller lifestyle** [6:36] — Expecting parties and no work leads to disappointment; remote jobs are still 40-hour weeks.
- **Right reason #1: new experiences** [8:33] — Loving new cultures, food, and meeting people makes the lifestyle fulfilling.
- **Right reason #2: financial arbitrage** [8:56] — Earning in strong currency (e.g., USD) and living in cheap countries like Vietnam reduces financial stress, especially for entrepreneurs.
- **12 months of freedom with $12K** [10:18] — Saving $12K allows living in Da Nang, Vietnam for a year without worrying about money, enabling focus on entrepreneurship.
- **Digital nomad community categories** [12:32] — Three types: 1) newcomers figuring it out, 2) successful builders, 3) posers who talk but don't build. 40% are posers, making it hard to find intellectual peers.
- **Be cautious of glamorization** [14:59] — The grass is greener syndrome; for most, digital nomading is the worst decision, not the best.

### Conclusion

The digital nomad lifestyle is amazing for those who genuinely love exploration and can leverage financial arbitrage, but it's not a shortcut to a vacation-filled life. Most people should be cautious and honestly assess their motivations before pursuing it.

## Transcript

I think it's the greatest experience of
my life I'm incredibly grateful most
people's biggest stress and biggest
worry in life is money how do I say this
diplomatically they're full of to
have some sort of like baller lifestyle
if you're a digital
Nomad I rolled up to a spot called chiro
I just saw it on Google Maps and I
thought it looked pretty cool the thing
about the coolest cafes is the coolest
cafes are not laptop friendly and that's
that's a good thing right you don't want
a bunch of people just posting up all
day on their laptops usually the cooler
cafes have you know more of an
interesting Vibe like these low tables
couches stuff like that that's not
really like work conducive if you want
to get work done then you know you want
to go to like a big chain coffee shop if
you want to like get some real work done
or like a co-working space but today's
the day I don't have my laptop so I
wanted to check out one of these cafes
that were more of a Vibe and less of a a
workstation yeah check it out
it's what it looks like on the outside
and then the
inside called Shiro coffee
shop try to give each other dreams that
me that make us happy huh I'm just going
to peek inside there
[Music]
some there's some people working in
there so I didn't want to like be
yapping in there while everyone's trying
to get some work done
um seems like a younger crowd there's
people getting work done but there's
also kids just like watching League of
Legends on their laptops and uh playing
mobile
games come on think this is the first
time I had a proper hot Vietnamese
espresso yep that tastes pretty much how
I would expect it to taste you guys know
how how dank Vietnamese coffee is but
Vietnamese
espresso multiply by 10 this might have
been a
miscalculation usually when to get a
Vietnamese coffee it's not that much
coffee and it's a lot of milk and a lot
of condensed milk and a lot of coconut
or or
whatever so I thought it' be the same
here so I got an espresso and I got an
Americano cuz I thought that the
Vietnamese coffee would be like a order
caffeine C content and then I needed
like a full Americano to get me up to
speed this might mess me
up then I still have to drink the
Americano I might be here for a while so
the reason I want to talk about this is
every single video I've ever put out has
multiple comments basically saying how
do I be a digital Nomad what do you do
for money to be a digital Nomad uh I
want to be a digital Nomad something
along those lines and I think most
people are attracted to the idea of
being a digital Nomad because they're
attracted to what they think the
lifestyle is because when you look at
social media what you see from digital
Nomads are people with their laptops on
the beach people on like a tropical
resort it looks like they're on vacation
every single day of their life and what
I need you guys to realize is that
pretty much all of social media is fake
not just like this digital Nomad stuff
but like all of it most of the content
that's put out is put out by people that
want to kind of floss on you and kind of
flex this fake lifestyle for the sake of
likes and for the sake of attention
because the reality is I have never seen
anybody actually working on a laptop on
the beach they go there they take a
photo they work for like 5 minutes maybe
and then they put it away and they go
swimming so for a lot of people I think
that the idea of being a digital Nomad
they're attracted to it the same way
they're attracted to a lot of things on
the Internet it's seems like a getrich
quick type of Lifestyle throughout the
history of the internet there's always
kind of been certain industries that
have been a little bit like scammy not
saying that the industry itself is a
scam but it attracts a lot of people
that are kind of full of for a long
time it was digital marketing uh
coaching like holistic coaching
lifestyle coaching is a big thing
anything around mindfulness anything
about crypto anything about stock
trading day trading Forex Trading even
like workout programs they kind of
attract a lot of like borderline
scammers and unfortunately I think the
digital Nomad lifestyle is starting to
become one of those categories now I'm
not saying that anything that I listed
is a scam obviously I don't think going
to the gym is a scam I follow Tony
Robbins I read his books I think that
mindfulness and self-empowerment is
really important but it's the industry
that attracts a lot of scammers and
again digital nomading has just kind of
reached that point where a lot of people
are kind of trying to sell you the
lifestyle a fake lifestyle uh a false
representation of the lifestyle to get
you to eventually buy something right
the biggest red flag is when people try
to get you to buy their course or by
anything anything that makes you give
money to that person red flag should be
going up now I'm definitely not trying
to discourage you from trying to become
a digital Nomad I just think that if
you're going into it for the wrong
reasons which most people
are you will be wildly
disappointed and you'll regret the
decision but if you're going into it for
the right reasons then it's great
because what do I actually think about
this lifestyle well for me I think it's
the greatest experience of my life I'm
incredibly grateful I enjoy every single
day of it and I hope it never ends I was
on my way back home but I stopped by the
river is this a park I don't know what
to call this but look at look at this it
looks like they're developing this strip
to be something like I see these kind of
like booths that generally turn into
like small shops right they'll have like
jeice shops and pizza shops and whatever
but I don't think anyone's moved into
any of them yet there's kind of these
food stalls over here this one looks
like it's selling burgers and burgers
and hamburgers and is that a McDonald's
logo I think they just stole that
picture but apparently they're also
selling McDonald's fries but it doesn't
seem like it's actually operational yet
that one's called pck poock food also
doesn't look like it's operational yet
so I don't know if this place maybe
comes alive at night or something but it
kind of looks like it's going to be
something and it isn't something yet but
these are these are cool chairs look at
these These are chairs
you actually like sit on them it's like
a one person chair well this is a good
place to chat so let's chat so when I
say being a digital nomat for a right
reason I don't mean that there are good
reasons and bad reasons okay I'm not
like condemning certain reasons and
glorifying other reasons I'm just
letting you know realistically which
reasons I think will lead you to
disappointment and which ones will make
you have a good time and to me the only
like wrong reason is this idea that
you're going to have some sort of like
baller lifestyle if you're digital nomad
you're going to go to parties all the
time you're going to go clubbing you're
going to go live in a tropical paradise
and you get to live it up and never have
to work a lot of people in the comments
ask me how do they find a remote job
because they think a remote job is an
easy job it's still a job it's still a 9
to-5 job for most people it's still a 40
hours a week job for most people and
most digital Nomads they spend most of
their time working or at home just like
anybody else most of my day is still
behind a computer working a remote job
isn't like a hack some people think that
it's a hack in the sense that you can
get all the benefits of a job without
having to work it doesn't work like that
how do you find a remote job the exact
same way that you find any other job
what skills do you need to have a remote
job the same skills you need to have any
other job it's just a job now of course
people are going to say that there are
certain jobs that are better for remote
working they're going to say things like
freelancing things like being an
entrepreneur but guess what even if
you're not a digital Nomad these things
make it easier to be a not digital Nomad
as well does that make sense even if
you're not traveling and you're just
staying in your hometown being an
entrepreneur or being a freelancer gives
you Freedom over your time the things
that give you Freedom at home also give
you Freedom as a digital Nomad okay
rant's over because the people that are
looking to be a digital Nomad for the
wrong reasons they're not listening to
anything that I'm saying right now
there's nothing I can say to convince
them and they're still going to be going
around looking for like a new life hack
to not have to be able to work and get
all the benefits so let's go back to the
positives let's go back to why I think
being a digital lad is amazing so what
are those two reasons I talked about the
first one is for people that genuinely
like new experiences they like meeting
new people they like experiencing new
cultures new foods just new things in
general obviously I don't have to
explain this one if you're a digital
Nomad you're traveling you're going all
over the place you're experiencing new
things new people I love it and if this
is an experience and this is a life that
sounds appealing to you then you'll love
being digital Nomad as well so the
second reason is a little bit more
practical it's about the financial
Arbitrage that you can do now I know not
everybody watching this is making US
dollars or from a Western Country but
about 85% of you guys watching this are
from the US so I'm talking to you guys
if you're from the US you're living in
one of the most expensive countries in
the world and if you're making a normal
salary in US Dollars and you're spending
it in a place like Vietnam your money
goes a lot lot further let's say you're
making $50,000 a year in the US you're
probably in the top 1% of income when
you come here to Vietnam now this is
great for people that are retired they
want their money to stretch a long way
but I specifically want to focus in on
entrepreneurs if you're an entrepreneur
or you're someone that's entrepreneurial
or want to be an entrepreneur I think
that being a digital Nomad and taking
advantage of this financial Arbitrage is
really really powerful and the reason
for this is that most people's biggest
stress and biggest worry in life is
money and if you're entrepreneurial and
you want to pursue something that does
not have a guaranteed income and
something that you don't know when
you'll be able to get an income or a
financial return from being a digital
Nomad takes that stress off of your back
when you have high living expenses like
rent in the US car payments you're
always going to be thinking about how am
I going to make it to next month most
entrepreneurs never take that leap
because they have to think about the
living expenses and how they're going to
survive for the next 3 months 6 months
12 months you don't know when your
Endeavor is going to start making money
if ever most companies fail so it's too
risky but think about it like this if
you have
$112,000 saved up in a bank account you
can live in dong comfortably and not
worry financially for a year think about
that for an entire year you can Focus
solely on your entrepreneurship and what
you're working on and not worry about
how you're going to make it to next
month that's a huge relief off your back
a huge load of stress off your back and
I think that it really increases your
chances for Success so if you're a
person that fits one of these profiles
and hopefully both of these profiles
then this digital Nomad lifestyle I
think is something that might actually
suit you well but if you're someone
where both of these things that I
mention does not resonate with you at
all then I think like you can still try
it but I think you're going to be wly
disappointed at what you find now I've
only been in Danang for about 3 months
now so I'm new to this lifestyle as well
as time goes by my opinions are going to
change my perceptions are going to
change if you guys have different
opinions let me know in the comments if
you guys have any questions for me let
me know in the comments I'd love to have
a debate with you guys if you're a
digital no man watching this then let me
know what your experiences are like yeah
I don't know I think I had to think
about this some more and I do want to
make like a full video One day about
this whole experience the more I think
about it the more I realize things that
other people told me that I think are
kind of BS like off the top of my head
networking I've heard people say you
don't even need a plan just get on a
plane come here go around Network and
you'll figure it
out I think that's the biggest piece of
BS ever all right good talk as much as I
love this weather it looks like it's
going to rain so just in case I'm going
to head home before that happens see you
there hi
Nal how you doing did you miss me you
miss me you want a treat let's go get a
treat
someone in the comments was asking me
why I do baby voice with Nala cuz she's
my
baby oh by the way this is one of the
shirts I got from the Han Market here
you can kind of tell like I watched it
twice you can kind of tell where it's
losing a little bit of elasticity but
overall I think it's like a 9 out of 10
it was like $2.80 let me find a
mirror that's what it looks like I think
it looks pretty good what do you think
worth it so let's talk about the digital
Nomad community and I know this is a
sensitive topic and this is going to rub
some people the wrong way but I'm just
being honest here work is a big part of
my life a lot of people would call me a
workaholic that's fine but I'm an
entrepreneur and I'm in Tech so anybody
who is an entrepreneur or
entrepreneurial or anybody who's in Tech
I generally have a lot to talk to them
about and in the world in the whole
world of Entrepreneurship there's kind
of three categories of people I know I'm
doing a lot of these like Cate things
but stick with me here the first
category are people that are kind of
like figuring it out they haven't made a
name for themselves they haven't raised
money they haven't actually built
anything yet but they're figuring it out
like they're working hard they're
they're curious they want to network
they want to learn and I like these
people I love hanging out with these
people I love chatting with these people
they're on the opposite side of the
spectrum there's people that are running
a business they have employees they have
businesses that are Revenue generating
they're successful and I like those
people too I love learning from them I
love talking to them I love sharing
words stories I like these people and
then there's kind of like this third
category of Entrepreneurship where how
do I say this diplomatically they're
full of they're kind of people that
call themselves entrepreneurs because it
sounds sexy in this Modern Age and they
don't really build anything they don't
really have any hard skills like
engineering or design or marketing or
any of that kind of stuff they don't
really work like in a given week they
don't really work and they kind of just
like navigate the space trying to get a
piece of someone else's thing or trying
to like piggyback off of somebody else's
work or they're just kind of like
putting up a front so that they can be
in the scene now I'm from LA and La is a
fake Capital BS capital of the world La
is the headquarters of fake it till you
make it and in La I would say the
entrepreneurship Community is like 85%
trying to make it 10% they're doing it
and like 5% of these artists
unfortunately in the digital Nomad
Community I think that category
is like 40% now of course there are
digital Nomads that are doing great
interesting inspiring things but 40% is
a lot so the reason I bring this all up
is it's been hard to make friends in
that second category I have plenty of
friends that are digital Nomads that are
just like Good Vibes let's go surfing
let's go to the beach let's go play
pickle ball or whatever and that's cool
but I haven't been able to find that
second group of people that I can kind
of connect on an intellectual level with
and it's gotten to the point where I
don't even want to like meet people
professionally like I just want to like
I don't want to talk about work I don't
want to talk about what I do I don't
want to talk about it this is has kind
of turned into a rant with no direction
I'm trying to find like a takeaway from
this if there's anything to take away
from this I would just say be cautious
of people that glamorize the digital
Nomad lifestyle and realize that when
you see kind of like the
sensationalization online about the
digital Nomad lifestyle it's just
another case of the grass is always
greener on the other side for the right
person living a digital Nomad life is
going to be the best decision you ever
made for most people I think it'll be
the worst decision you ever made I'm
trying to spin this and turn this into
Like A Life Lesson or something but I
can't come up with anything I don't know
how long I've been talking I don't even
know what I said in this whole video but
if you made it up to this point then I
hope you found at least some of it
useful in some way or maybe it's just
entertaining to listen to me yelling out
into the void yeah I don't know how to
end this video I hope you're healthy I
hope you're happy and if you're not
happy I hope you realize that you
deserve it and I hope you have the
courage to go out there and find it and
grab it for yourself I'll see you on the
next video peace