Freelancing Couple Sets Out to Work in Every City in the World

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In 2014, couple Yuleidy Tovar and Ignacio Flores took an unplanned journey across South America. With only a few belongings and their laptops, the two left the home they shared for more than five years to start seeing the world, one continent at a time. From Colombia, they rode the bus to Ecuador. A few months later, they found themselves in Peru, later across Bolivia, and then they were off to Argentina (Ignacio's native country).

Yuleidy and Ignacio in Cusco, Peru

For the six months they were out on the road, the couple saw and learned more than they had for years. Before getting on the bus that literally drove them away from Colombia, Yuleidy spent four years of her career writing code for a local company. She is a Web developer while her fiancé Ignacio is a Web designer.

Escaping to the Web

“We thought of the possibility of working while traveling,” said Yuleidy who experienced working from home for a year, while still being officially employed by a company. “I liked the freedom of working from home, but we wanted to experience more.”

The couple onboard a boat in Cozumel, Mexico

In 2014, she and Ignacio decided to work together as a team to provide website design and development services online. Ignacio scoured the Internet and learned about Freelancer.com. While he and Yuleidy began taking projects on the site, she didn’t leave her full-time job just yet.

“When we started on Freelancer, we had no idea about how far we could go. We started to bid on projects and it took a while for us to get our first job because our profile was empty. We didn’t give up and were very happy when our first job was awarded to us,” she said. A few months later, Yuleidy quit her job to focus on freelancing with her partner.

When they had built up enough experience and had an improved Freelancer.com portfolio, the couple joined the elite Preferred Freelancer Program. “The Preferred Freelancer badge has been such an important achievement for us. It increased our chances of being selected for a project significantly. We also receive projects from Recruiters and this has been really helpful. They would recommend us directly to the clients and even put us in touch with them to get further details about the project.”

The couple in Medellin, Colombia

Work and Travel Definitely Possible

After returning to Colombia for two months to take a breather and also to visit Yuleidy’s newborn niece, the couple were off again, this time to Mexico.

“While we worked on Freelancer.com, we traveled across Mexico, beginning from the Caribbean Yucatan Peninsula to Puerto Vallarta in the Pacific Coast. Afterwards, we enjoyed the dense jungle and beaches of Belize for a month, and then we were off to Guatemala for a week. Throughout all this, we have been successful in our freelancing careers,” Yuleidy said.

Yuleidy and Ignacio in Belize

Their secret to getting the best of both worlds is organization. “Work and travel sounds easy but you really need to be very organized with the working hours. What we do is stay from two weeks to a month in most of the places we visit. This allows us to rent a comfortable place to live and work in, get in touch with locals, and travel.”

Although the couple doesn’t have a fixed schedule every day, they dedicate at least five to seven hours on Freelancer. That’s when they place bids, talk to clients, research, design, and develop. Yuleidy and Ignacio are flexible when it comes to work. Small projects are taken up separately depending on the expertise needed, while big and high-budget ones are worked on as a team. In most cases, their skills complement the other; Yuleidy codes the backend while Ignacio works his magic on the front end.

The couple posing against the backdrop of the mountains of the Argentine Patagonia

“Our routines are the same as if we are living in a fixed place, except we are in an amazing and different city every month. There’s so much to see and explore, so we are never bored. Traveling and working can be quite challenging, but they keep us going. There are tons of places to visit, so our plan will go on for a long time. Freelancing gave us a taste of freedom. We can’t go back.”

Yuleidy said that their next destination is Asia.

View their Freelancer.com profile here.

Traveling and working is definitely possible. Sign up for free on Freelancer.com today.

Posted 11 March, 2016

Nikki Hernandez

Wired and Inspired | Content Coordinator, Freelancer.com

I'm the coordinator of Freelancer's Case Study Program. I write inspirational success stories of employers and freelancers. When not busy writing, I play video games.

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