Have you ever heard the phrase of ‘Digital Nomad’?
It’s a phrase I have been drawn to for years and it’s a topic I love to talk about
What is a Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad is someone who earns a living online and lives their life in a nomadic way, by moving from place to place while being able to sustain a living online. Usually working out of coffee shops, libraries, co-working spaces or anywhere with an internet connection really.
A Digital nomad can earn money online in a variety of different ways. Some may run a successful blog (my goal), some may run an e-commerce store selling different products. Although a digital nomad does not have to be his/her own boss.
The alternative to this is becoming a freelancer. A freelancer lets you work for an employer on a project for a set time period then once your job is complete you find another project to work on somewhere else. You’re essentially an employee for a period of time but have the ability to work from almost anywhere in the world.
Becoming a digital nomad
Making the choice to become a digital nomad is the easy part. Actually making the transition to online remote work might prove to be the trickiest.
Depending on your current profession you may be able to go nomadic quite easily if your boss is willing to give it a try. Tim Ferriss talks about this in his book The 4 hour work week. If you work in construction then obviously this lifestyle isn’t going to work for you, but if you have some sort of office based job like marketing or web developing then this could work.
If your job isn’t suited to the digital nomad lifestyle then as mentioned before there are plenty of options available. All you need to do is pick a field that can allow you to work online and learn the skills necessary.
Websites like Skill Share and Lynda have thousands of online courses. These range from photography to online marketing. Theses would be a good place to get started and find out what interests you.
Other free resources include YouTube and blogs. I regularly watch Chris the Freelancer‘s channel which goes in depth on the topic.
Is this lifestyle for me?
This depends on what you want to get out of achieving this lifestyle.
Do you want to be location independent?
Do you want the ability to travel more?
Do you want to ditch traffic and work from home?
If so then this lifestyle is probably for you.
Although like everything in life there are also downsides and it’s not all about travelling around the world doing whatever you want.
In some cases it can be quite the opposite. Goats on the Road talk about the pro’s and cons of being a digital nomad. They talk about the struggles of a work-life balance and missing family and friends.
I think its important to look at both sides to this lifestyle as it can be quite deceiving when portrayed on social media. A lot of those people living this lifestyle are working 8-10 hours a day sat at a computer. This may not always be the case but that completely depends on how you conduct your business online.
Overall Thoughts
My overall thoughts on being a digital nomad have changed throughout the years. Although I am not a digital nomad, I do like the idea of being able to work from my laptop and earning a living online.
In terms of travelling, I don’t think I would want to travel non-stop and work at the same time for a long period.
I would prefer to have a base to work from (my flat for example). Then when I want to or need to travel then I can take my laptop with me if work needs to be competed.
My reason for this would be the fact that I think I would really struggle to find a work-life balance while travelling. I imagine this would make me extremely unproductive.
So yes I would like to work online and have the opportunity to work remotely. In terms of being nomadic though, I would prefer to work from a base location and travel whenever I want. This gives me the ability to be super productive but also travel a lot more, which is exactly the lifestyle I want.
Thanks for reading,
Conor