Costa Rica Is The Perfect Location For The Freelance, ‘Gig Economy’ Worker

In various media outlets  — The Guardian, Entrepreneur, Quartz — you’ll see mention of the rise in freelance or “gig economy” work, alternative work arrangements to the permanent, full-time job. Some of these jobs are not remote. If you’re an Uber driver or on call as a warehouse stocker, you’ll need to live where you work.

But many jobs, especially the higher-paying knowledge work, can be handled remotely. I have been focusing on skills that increase my potential for virtual work, so I have the flexibility to travel. My current work portfolio includes coaching, recruiting, writing, and teaching, all of which could be done virtually (though some of my work does require me to be onsite). Scott’s work in digital marketing and SEO consulting, and our real estate investing are also structured as virtual businesses.

While we are still based in New York City for personal reasons, a full-time move to Costa Rica would actually help our businesses. Tamarindo, the beach town we picked for our first Costa Rican rental, is the perfect location for the freelance, gig economy worker.

Cost of living is low

When I launched my first business 10 years ago, my start-up income in the first year replaced less than 20% of my corporate salary. It wasn’t until year three that I started making a comparable income to my desk job. Luckily, Scott still had his corporate job, and we had savings in anticipation of my fledgling business needing to ramp up, but still, an 80+% pay cut in an expensive town like New York City is very hard.

As I think of new ventures to pursue, it’s very appealing to do the cost/ benefit analysis in a place like Tamarindo, where we could cut our cost of living by two-thirds or more. (depending on how disciplined we could be about not eating out at my favorite restaurants all the time!)

You can actually get healthcare and afford it

Our health insurance premiums are our single biggest line item in our budget – 20% of our budget is just the premium. That number will only increase over time, and with the ACA under siege, health insurance will be harder to get at any price.

Costa Rica has world-class health facilities and offers universal healthcare to permanent residents. Our monthly insurance premium would drop by an order of magnitude!

Internet is fast

The last time we stayed in Condo Boom, we had a working vacation, in which I put together a consulting proposal, made a guest appearance on an entrepreneurship podcast, and wrote a freelance article for one of my favorite media outlets.

The work I did in Tamarindo earned more money than our trip cost, and we still had ample time to walk on the beach and catch the sunset every night.

You can be back state-side in a few hours

Though I do prefer virtual work, I still like being onsite with clients and doing some activities face-to-face. One of my favorite gigs is teaching — I have been at one of my university clients for over 20 years, and I have been an interview coach at another university client for almost 10 years.

Luckily, both of these commitments take just a few days each semester, and with Costa Rica a five-hour flight from New York City, I could commute for these projects very easily. If you need to shuttle back and forth to Europe, the number of European carriers flying to Costa Rica jumped from one to six in just the last two years.

There are more than enough cafes to work from

I love working in the morning, and I love working outside. I could easily do that from Condo Boom, either upstairs on our bedroom terrace, or downstairs on our patio set – both places face the pool.

However, if I want to work over breakfast, I could choose a different outdoor café for every day of the week – green juice at Café Nordico, pancakes at Noguis, or an egg dish at Café Tico, La Bodega, or Breakfast Grinds.

 

 

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As Scott and I get closer to the empty nest phase, where we can be much more flexible about where to live, I’m lobbying harder for a stint abroad, and Costa Rica would be an easy, convenient test-run.

If I had to launch a business all over again, I would do it from abroad, so I could take my time in building it and would structure it to be virtual and international from day one.

I have new business ideas all the time, so I may launch something new sooner than later. Will I launch from Costa Rica? I’ll keep you posted.