In 2019, I did what many people only talk about. I sold my house in the U.S., bought my first international property in Spain, and started building a location-independent business.
I had a plan. I had clarity. I thought I was ready.
Then COVID hit.
The business I built, the income I counted on, and the timeline I had mapped out were gone almost overnight. I could have gone back to what was familiar. Instead, I rebuilt.
I became a digital nomad, spent five years moving across countries, tested what actually works, and learned the hard truth: location independence does not begin with a destination. It begins with income that can move.
That experience became the foundation of RYL Abroad. Not the highlight reel. The real lesson.