Building an independent infrastructure: A guide for nomads and future refugees

The climate in Europe gets rougher. Many want to get away. You also? I’ll give you a few basic tips and insights here.

In addition to GDPR, rampant socialism, perpetual euro crisis and uncontrolled mass immigration, everyone will surely have their own list with reasons why it will not look so rosy in Europe very soon. For many people, they are already bursting with anger and just want to get away. If you have become tired of the permanent fighting, I can fully understand you. Maybe the camel’s back has already broken with you or you are a candidate for it. Then this article can help you to properly tackle your escape to a better future.

Flag theory

For this we use the concept of the flag theory. This can basically be summarized in one sentence:

Go to where you are treated best!

This is to be understood literally but also in a figurative sense. You just pick the best locations in the world for different areas of life or your infrastructure. You place flags everywhere and diversify and internationalize your life. Some of these tips are even useful for you if you stay in Europe. But let‘s go into the details. The following flags are available in this model:

Flag 1: Life

Live where you like it the most. Be it the nature, the weather or the mentality of the locals – or the cost of living. Spend your time at your favorite places.

Flag 2: Residence

Have your official residence in a country that demands little or no tax from you. Whether you actually live there, is not so important. But it is always good to have an official address. Until you have found such a residence, it might help you to have a virtual address.

Flag 3: Citizenship

Have one or more citizenships in countries that offer you a powerful passport with many visa-free countries.

Flag 4: Business

Establish your company where there are few regulations and bureaucracy and if possible no tax. After all, taxation for companies is silly anyway. Apart from your company, you do not need to have any connections to your offshore country.

Flag 5: Employees

If your business field makes it possible, get your customer projects in high-priced countries and have them realized by freelancers in low-wage countries. This does not necessarily affect the quality, nor do you have to exploit the people. For example, there are highly qualified software developers in the Philippines for less than 3 Euros per hour. And that is by their standards even an above-average wage!

Flag 6: Finance

Have your savings and investments in countries with strong property rights, low taxes and, if possible, good banking secrecy. In any case, far away from the local kleptocrats.

Flag 7: Insurance

You only want to insure yourself against what you consider necessary? Why not! There are also good international insurance policies that offer much more value at a lower price than domestic compulsory insurances.

Flag 8: IT and communication

In times of censorship for alleged “hate speech” and increasingly absurd data protection delusion with simultaneously total monitoring of your life, you should consider some alternatives abroad. Be it VPN tunnels that bypass domestic censorship and let you surf anonymously or international domains that guarantee your freedom of speech on your own blog in the future, there are plenty of technical solutions.

Flag 9: Mate choice

Far from the European feminist delusion, there are still women who want to be a mother rather than a career man and men who still treat women with decency, respect and loyalty. The world is big and so is the selection. Why not find a spouse abroad and let the children grow up bilingually and with two passports?

Flag 10: Parenting

In many countries, there is no compulsory school attendance or any other interference with parental custody. Why not educate your children according to your ideas and raise them up with the culture and education that you think makes the most sense?

Flag 11: Education

The supply of education, whether for children or adults, is much more diverse worldwide. Here you have the choice of the whole range of quality, price and ideology.

Flag 12: Health

Depending on the country, you can still get all sorts of medical treatments which are despite good quality at reasonable costs. But also, for those living in Europe medical tourism might be a smart idea. Why not finance your next holiday trip with a cheap dental or eye treatment abroad? So, you kill two birds with one stone.

Flag 13: Playgrounds

Whether for weekend shopping in New York or relaxing on the Caribbean beach, as a self-employed nomad you spend your leisure time simply where you enjoy it.

That was the flag theory in a nutshell. Of course, you can go much more into details, but the concept should hopefully have become clear. However, I still would like to focus on a few essential points for nomads and location-independent entrepreneurs:

Build up a robust infrastructure

To get started as a location-independent online entrepreneur, I recommend the following infrastructure. There are 4 levels that you should consider: your life, your business, your finances and your IT.

Level 1: Basics of a long-term traveler

In order to master the first level, you must first do the basics and cut off all official ties to your home country. Whatever is important, you will find in this article:

Escaping the system – My pathway to freedom of tax and bureaucracy

Next, you should prepare yourself for minimalism and remove all unnecessary tangible possessions from your life. In the following article I explain you how to do it:

Hand luggage only – The key for mobility

Of course, minimalism also applies to your own paperwork. But surely you cannot just throw away all documents. Carrying them all is not suitable as well. Here is my solution for you:

German orderliness and stateless life – Being a minimalist and still well prepared

But you can become even more radical and you should! For a prevention of dangers, which threaten you not only as a nomad, you can prepare as mentioned in the following article:

Theft, computer viruses or even war? – Precaution for paranoids

And last but not least, you should also consider your insurances when you travel the world. If you have questions regarding this crucial topic you may consult me.

Level 2: Founding an offshore company

Now that you are emigrating from Europe and are likely to give up existing companies, you have to look for a legal structure abroad. When starting your business, you should think carefully about the following questions: What do you want? What will be your business field? Factors such as costs, taxes, bureaucracy, reputation of the country, reporting obligations and limitation of liability can have a significant impact on your decision. For my online business, I have chosen a company structure in Canada, because it is very favorable in terms of founding and annual fees and doesn’t cost me any tax nor administrative effort and is also located in a reputable and globally recognized country. I am also happy to advise you on this crucial topic.

Level 3: Financial Infrastructure

Every company needs a financial structure. It does not always have to be an expensive business account with a bank. For example, having an IBAN account with TransferWise is enough. For the customer it also looks like a normal business account in Europe, but for you it is a flexible, cheap and quickly created tool to receive and send money. So, my company has no real bank account, but instead such a substitute. This was simply the most unbureaucratic solution. Bitwala, a payment service provider in the crypto area, is also expanding its services and will be a real crypto bank in the near future. But unlike the traditional competitors like commercial banks, Bitwalais also very innovative and without great regulations and conditions. By contrast, Advanced Cash is not a bank, but also links the crypto currencies with numerous interfaces to global payment and exchange providers and fiat currencies. Last but not least, Revolut offers favorable conditions for both private and business use when it comes to withdrawing and exchanging fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies worldwide.

Level 4: IT and web hosting

Here you have to think about what you intend to do in the future with your business. Do you just need a cheap website, or would you like to start a possibly controversial blog? Would you like to struggle with imprint obligations and data protection or do you prefer to create a website abroad? If you are okay with for example a German server provider, I recommend you All-Inkl. This is a very cheap and highly configured provider with many understandable tutorials on the web. However, if you want total anonymity and privacy, then I recommend you OrangeWebsite from Iceland. This provider not only accepts payment with Bitcoin but has also taken a strong stand for freedom of speech in the past. The NSA has no chance here. Also, when choosing your domain, you should think about it beforehand. For example, the Liberated Blog was only lately moved from the .de domain controlled by Germany to the more independent .blog domain.

If you are not a professional web developer I recommend using WordPress as the software for your website. Thanks to its countless plugins and design templates, this industry standard of blogging can also serve as a sales page or generally as a homepage. If you have problems here or need a web developer, feel free to contact us: [email protected]

We are happy to help you with the installation, troubleshooting, design, server migration or conversion to HTTPS. My Filipino experts with German quality control are looking forward to your order and we offer you an unbeatable outsourcing price.

In the age of Blockchain, problems of privacy and state censorship should soon be a thing of the past. Indeed, this new technology will ensure that freedom of expression will be strengthened and that the Internet will finally become what it should be: a decentralized area of ​​freedom of speech. If you would like to know more about this technology and what innovations cryptocurrencies will bring to us in the future, then I recommend you my new book: Crypto4you – Understanding, buying and trading cryptocurrencies made easy: The ultimate guide for beginners

What do you think? Have I forgotten any flags? Then tell us down below in the comments!