X Marks the Spot: E-Book Review
By theprofessionalhobo ~ August 24th, 2009. Filed under: Toronto (still/again), book reviews.
I only recently heard about the buzz term “Location Independent”, and realized that I am living a similar lifestyle myself; I make a living that is completely independent of my location in the world.
So when I “met” Lea Woodward (“met” being a loose term for the sort of networking that happens between people who are thousands of miles apart, thanks to the Internet) and learned of the ever-growing Location Independent community that she and her husband Jonathan are fostering, I had to look further into their experienced words of wisdom in their latest e-book: X Marks the Spot: The Indispensable Guide to Living and Working from Anywhere You Choose.
For somebody who is already living the Location Independent life, I learned lots of things in this 82 page book that made for an informative afternoon read. Most of the knowledge I appreciated revolved around specific applications or services that make living a nomadic life so much easier, such as:
- Global Wireless Internet Service
- Online Faxing service
- How to search for suitable accommodation from abroad
- Remote mailing services that give you a “local” mailing address. (They send you a scan of the unopened envelope, so you can decide what needs to be done with it from there. Who knew such a thing existed?)
But I also appreciated the dozens of other practical resources for applications and technology that Lea and Jonathan use (personal experience is always the best recommendation) to make their Location Independent lifestyle run smoothly.
For those who are new to the idea of Location Independent living, this book is fabulous. You can follow along Lea and Jonathan’s journey, starting with their “regular” and unsatisfying lifestyles in the UK, to making the decision to go and eventually hitting the road.
They provide practical tips for managing each step of the process, including creating a Location Independent income with business advice, dealing with the emotional effects of becoming (and staying) Location Independent, and the ever-important logistical steps to take in wrapping up your life and becoming nomadic.
As the reader, you share in their mistakes as well as their victories in their last few years of being Location Independent. Lea is very open about their cost of living on the road, so that you can make the most educated decisions for yourself before taking the plunge.
If you ever thought about creating a Location Independent lifestyle for yourself, then picking up a copy of X Marks The Spot is a great idea.
Editor’s note: There are affiliate links in this post.
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August 25th, 2009 at 3:16 am
This looks like it might be an interesting read. I followed the link & they have two editions of their book. The first apparently contains more personal accounts of their experiences, while the second has more resources (from what I could gather from the overview).
Which edition does this review cover? I really don’t see the point in buying *both*, unless they are in fact completely different books.
August 25th, 2009 at 6:05 am
@Mike: The edition I reviewed was the 2nd edition. I generally tend to be a fan of 2nd editions more (since they’re more up to date), but Lea may want to weigh in on this….Lea?
August 25th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Thanks for this Nora, on my way to check this out. This is def our goal.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:19 am
@Mike – both editions have lots of resources in, but the 1st contains much more about our own personal journey/experiences which some people want & enjoy. It also includes appendices which have our packing lists etc. which aren’t in the 2nd book.
Some (but not all) of the personal sections have been stripped out of the 2nd edition to make it more streamlined and focused on people who just want the nuts & bolts of how to do it. The 2nd edition has been completely updated – in that we went through every section and updated it where required with the latest resources & tools we now use after 2+ more years’ of experience.
The 2nd edition is the same price as buying the 1st & 2nd together, so you could get both and do your own comparison for the same price as just the 2nd