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The 7 Necessary Steps to Designing a Purposeful Life Without a Place to Call Home

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At some point, everyone has dreamt about leaving the 9-to-5 grind and hitting the road, and we see more adventure travelers making a living from crazy beautiful places all around the world every day. Most people lose hope in the dream when it comes to determining the next steps.

Pushing your life adrift with purpose, can be done and the following tips will help you make it successful without a permanent address, traveling, and creating income:

1. Make Your Income Mobile

First and foremost, you have to transition away from the desk that has burdened you for years. Whether you keep the security of your corporate job or venture out with your entrepreneurial spirit, you need to employ your abilities to create income wherever you find yourself. If you need inspiration, walk past any coffee shop, and you’ll see a dozen people doing what you’ve dreamt about, with a latte and a scone in their hands.

By employing today’s technologies, people are performing sales, marketing, design, executive assistant roles, thousands of miles away from the actual office. The location is not a factor, it becomes focused on finding reliable power and wi-fi.

“To get rich, you have to be making money while you sleep.” – David Bailey

2. Define a Purpose

It is easy enough to cut the cord with the office and work from home, yet, truly spending time adrift with a purpose requires the removal of the crutches of routine and consistency. Moving where you lay your head each night takes the definition of your purpose.

Your immediate thoughts may be centered around reconnecting old friendships, expanding your passion for photography, or exploring new and old places with fresh eyes. It’s important to define your purpose so that you have a direction.  Maybe your desired result is to write a book, put it down.

3. Define the Boundaries

Expand your purpose by determining your physical, time, experiential and emotional boundaries. Coupling your boundaries with your purpose will help in determining where you’ll focus your time, how you will handle new opportunities and define your timeframe. When the journey gets tough, you will be thankful for having written down your mission.

4. Recruit a Partner

Finding an amazing travel partner who can join you during different parts of the journey simply enhances the experiences you will encounter. Also, it will add significantly more emotional value to the parts of the journey you share.

Ensure your missions complement each other’s, as it is quite important to make sure you understand each other’s goals before packing a bag. Consider how you will feel when the trip is no longer all about you.  

5. Have a Lifeline

Some of your plans will not go as designed. Keep a positive attitude, though, as most of the detours will result in greater experiences that you never envisioned. There will be a couple of times that make you question your sanity, but where you categorically want to be prepared is for the endless “where are you?” emails from your Mother and the truly catastrophic emergency.

Make sure you have a lifeline that knows your location, upcoming plans and knows how to help if there’s an emergency. Not just anyone can do this task. Determine the one person that would leave their life to save you, without question, and most importantly, without placing additional drama into the situation. Provide copies of everything. Consider what you will need if your things are stolen or lost. Provide your lifeline with an emergency fund, for you to get home if needed.

Prepare them, your Mom will call them anytime you don’t answer an email within 24-hours or haven’t posted to Instagram all day. Make sure they have patience, a sense of humor, and know when to stop telling you, “it will be fine” and engage the emergency plan.

6. Always be planning for the next move

Being adrift is about allowing the change to direct the journey. The goal is not to stick in one place all year, so it is important to be thinking about your next moves. Prepare a 30-day view of work demands and keep revising the plan as needed. Ask yourself questions like, “Where will I be in 30-days?”, “What is required to continue making my income?” and “Where is there reliable wi-fi?”

“Plan your next move, because every step contributes to your goal.” – Sukant Ratnakar

7. Share your Experience

Certainly, you must share photos for friends & family to experience the journey with you, and, depending on your profession, may want to expand to your clients. Share that you’re on a journey that is providing you with more balance and fostering a healthier person, but also makes you a better provider for your clients.

Not everyone will take the leap of faith. Doubts that all will be okay while adrift are louder when your life is more established. If you can create a vision and launch your journey, then it will be one of the best experiences of your life.

Do you live a nomadic lifestyle while running or working with a business? Leave your experiences and thoughts below!

A former Chief Operating Officer, Kristian Besley, has gained priceless experience by running towards organizational challenges and crafting and implementing solutions with unreasonable variables. He currently advises entrepreneurs on how to frame their business concepts, develop strategic plans and implement solutions to reach the next level. You catch him pedaling a Bianchi or riding motorcycles around the Bay Area. Converse with him and find out what he's up to at KristianBesley.com or on Facebook.

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Success Advice

Why One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Will Always Fail (and What Works Instead)

The surprising truth about leadership styles that can make or break your team’s success.

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Why one-size-fits-all leadership doesn’t work
Image Credit: Midjourney

Leadership has always been as much about people as it is about performance. Ken Blanchard, in his influential book, “The One Minute Manager”, put it simply: different strokes for different folks. (more…)

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Success Advice

What Every New CEO Must Do in Their First 100 Days (or Risk Failure)

Your first 100 days as CEO could define your entire legacy, here’s how to make every move count

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leadership tips for new CEO
Image Credit: Midjourney

When Tim Cook took over from Steve Jobs at Apple, the world watched with bated breath. Jobs wasn’t just a CEO; he was a visionary, an icon, and a legend of innovative leadership. (more…)

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Entrepreneurs

The Leadership Shift Every Company Needs in 2025

Struggling to keep your team engaged? Here’s how leaders can turn frustrated employees into loyal advocates.

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Bridging the gap between employees and employers
Image Credit: Midjourney

In workplaces around the world, there’s a growing gap between employers and employees and between superiors and their teams. It’s a common refrain: “People don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”

While there are, of course, cases where management could do better, this isn’t just a “bad boss” problem. The relationship between leaders and employees is complex. Instead of assigning blame, we should explore practical solutions to build stronger, healthier workplaces where everyone thrives.

Why This Gap Exists

Every workplace needs someone to guide, supervise, and provide feedback. That’s essential for productivity and performance. But because there are usually far more employees than managers, dissatisfaction, fair or not, spreads quickly.

What if, instead of focusing on blame, we focused on building trust, empathy, and communication? This is where modern leadership and human-centered management can make a difference.

Tools and Techniques to Bridge the Gap

Here are proven strategies leaders and employees can use to foster stronger relationships and create a workplace where people actually want to stay.

1. Practice Mutual Empathy

Both managers and employees need to recognize they are ultimately on the same team. Leaders have to balance people and performance, and often face intense pressure to hit targets. Employees who understand this reality are more likely to cooperate and problem-solve collaboratively.

2. Maintain Professional Boundaries

Superiors should separate personal issues from professional decision-making. Consistency, fairness, and integrity build trust, and trust is the foundation of a motivated team.

3. Follow the Golden Rule

Treat people how you would like to be treated. This simple principle encourages compassion and respect, two qualities every effective leader must demonstrate.

4. Avoid Micromanagement

Micromanaging stifles creativity and damages morale. Great leaders see themselves as partners, not just bosses, and treat their teams as collaborators working toward a shared goal.

5. Empower Employees to Grow

Empowerment means giving employees responsibility that matches their capacity, and then trusting them to deliver. Encourage them to take calculated risks, learn from mistakes, and problem-solve independently. If something goes wrong, turn it into a learning opportunity, not a reprimand.

6. Communicate in All Directions

Communication shouldn’t just be top-down. Invite feedback, create open channels for suggestions, and genuinely listen to what your people have to say. Healthy upward communication closes gaps before they become conflicts.

7. Overcome Insecurities

Many leaders secretly fear being outshone by younger, more tech-savvy employees. Instead of resisting, embrace the chance to learn from them. Humility earns respect and helps the team innovate faster.

8. Invest in Coaching and Mentorship

True leaders grow other leaders. Provide mentorship, career guidance, and stretch opportunities so employees can develop new skills. Leadership is learned through experience, but guided experience is even more powerful.

9. Eliminate Favoritism

Avoid cliques and office politics. Decisions should be based on facts and fairness, not gossip. Objective, transparent decision-making builds credibility.

10. Recognize Efforts Promptly

Recognition often matters more than rewards. Publicly appreciate employees’ contributions and do so consistently and fairly. A timely “thank you” can be more motivating than a quarterly bonus.

11. Conduct Thoughtful Exit Interviews

When employees leave, treat it as an opportunity to learn. Keep interviews confidential and use the insights to improve management practices and culture.

12. Provide Leadership Development

Train managers to lead, not just supervise. Leadership development programs help shift mindsets from “command and control” to “coach and empower.” This transformation has a direct impact on morale and retention.

13. Adopt Soft Leadership Principles

Today’s workforce, largely millennials and Gen Z, value collaboration over hierarchy. Soft leadership focuses on partnership, mutual respect, and shared purpose, rather than rigid top-down control.

The Bigger Picture: HR’s Role

Mercer’s global research highlights five key priorities for organizations:

  • Build diverse talent pipelines

  • Embrace flexible work models

  • Design compelling career paths

  • Simplify HR processes

  • Redefine the value HR brings

The challenge? Employers and employees often view these priorities differently. Bridging that perception gap is just as important as bridging the relational gap between leaders and staff.

Treat Employees Like Associates, Not Just Staff

When you treat employees like partners, they bring their best selves to work. HR leaders must develop strategies to keep talent engaged, empowered, and prepared for the future.

Organizational success starts with people, always. Build the relationship with your team first, and the results will follow.

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Entrepreneurs

What Makes an Entrepreneurial Leader? Traits of the World’s Best Innovators

Inside the mindset of entrepreneurial leaders who transform risk, passion, and vision into world-changing results.

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entrepreneurial leadership skills and traits
Image Credit: Midjourney

When you think of Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Rupert Murdoch (News Corporation), and Ted Turner (CNN), one thing becomes clear: they are not just entrepreneurs, they are entrepreneurial leaders. (more…)

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