An Interview with Nomadic Rock Star Cody McKibben

When I first got interested in developing a nomadic lifestyle and blogging, there were certain people that stood out for me from the beginning in the Nomadic community.

These were the people who, in my mind, had established themselves as the heroes, the rock stars, the trend setters. One of these people was Cody Mckibben. I was impressed with what he had accomplished and what he was doing and how he was building a community around giving back and making the world a better place.

I recently had an opportunity to ask Cody a few questions and he was kind and considerate enough to take time to respond, even though he was in the middle of an important project when I contacted him. Thanks, Cody!

1. What was your life like when you were growing up?

I had a pretty middle-class, suburban upbringing. I’m from northern California where things are fairly diverse and progressive, which was good, but overall nothing overly exciting. I studied photography and French in high school, where I first started to develop my taste for languages, cultures and travel. In college, I studied history, humanities, religions, philosophy and arts, but I eventually spent some time working with the College of Business at my university, getting interested in entrepreneurship, and ended up teaching myself to do web development on the side.

2. When did you realize, that the traditional lifestyle is not for you. Was there any particular incident that sealed it for you? What was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak?

I knew that the 9-to-5 cubicle world wasn’t for me. I thought maybe I’d become a professor, and then when I started to take a deep interest in entrepreneurship I was following many of these cutting-edge guys out of Silicon Valley, watching lectures from Stanford GSB professors, and reading great authors like Tim Ferriss. I realized there are a lot of “rule breakers” out there forging their own path—you don’t have to follow any “American Dream” template lifestyle—you can color outside the lines, bend the rules, do whatever’s necessary to seek an unconventional solution for the way you want to live.

Helping students at the university was rewarding in many ways, but when I looked around at people who had worked there for 25 years, I just knew I couldn’t push paper for my whole life. I knew I wanted to play by my own rules—I wanted to make a bigger impact in the world than I could working under someone else, within some organization’s pre-set boundaries.

3. Once you decided to go nomadic, what steps did you take and why did you pick Thailand?

I was at a stage in my life where I wanted to go live abroad somewhere as different as I could possibly find for a year or so. I’d had this long-time interest in travel, and especially in Southeast Asia thanks to my high school French professor Alec Hodgins. When I saw people like Tim Ferriss experimenting with geoarbitrage, I realized it was possible to live cheaper in an exotic, beautiful place like Thailand for several months than back home in California.

I quit my office job in 2007 and started working as a “digital nomad”—doing freelance WordPress development from home, the coffee shop, or on the road. I took a year to really get my freelance business going, learn the ropes of self-employment, and feel confindent enough to do it from anywhere. Now that I’m in Asia, I practice a fairly minimalist lifestyle and choose to spend what money I do have on travel, great experiences with my friends, and spending my time contributing in other ways: writing, volunteering and philanthropy.

4. You are very big on giving back, tell us about some of the projects you’re involved in now and in the past.

I have worked with many types of businesses around the globe—usually collaborating with CEOs, authors, and coaches, but specifically, my ideal target clients are nonprofits and social entrepreneurs—and projects that really get me excited are ones that help make the world a better place. I’ve recently done work for ahmsa International and the Documentary Foundation.

My business gives back 5% to In Search Of Sanuk, a local charity and volunteer organization run by my good friend Dwight Turner here in Bangkok (support us on Facebook here). We do regular volunteering events around BKK and host charity mixers and meetups every few weeks. Together with a few partners, we just managed Bangkok’s Twestival Local celebration—a huge, luxurious night out to raise money for two children’s homes out near the Thai border with Burma. We successfully brought in about $2.5k US in donations, and Dwight and I just returned from a trip to visit Baan Dada and Baan Unrak and deliver donations in person. We had a fantastic time spent with the children, and the money will go a long way toward providing for them.

5. What does the future hold for Cody McKibben? Where do you see yourself down the line?

For now, I’m just enjoying the nomadic life and being able to give so much of my time. A rough plan is to relocate to South America in the next 18 months some time and continue working from there. There are a few places I’d like to live and a lot of traveling I’d like to do before I settle down anywhere, but I’m open to nomadic serendipity, and my business and volunteer work could take me anywhere! All I know is I’m still on a journey, it will be fun, and as long as I help a few people along the way, it will be worth it.

Check out  Cody McKibben on his website or on Twitter

–

If you enjoyed this article, let us know by sharing your comments with us or asking Cody a question in the comments below. Also make sure to subscribe to our RSS feed, so you are sure to receive all the updates.