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Chapter 1
IN THIS CHAPTER
Defining what a digital nomad is
Discovering more about who digital nomads are
Busting digital nomad stereotypes
Figuring out if the digital nomad lifestyle is for you
"Man started out as nomadic, it may be the most natural state for human beings."
- CRAIG O. MCCAW, QUOTED IN THE BOOK, DIGITAL NOMAD
In 1997, a full decade before Apple released the first-generation iPhone, Digital Nomad was published. In it, authors Tsugio Makimoto, a former Sony executive, and David Manners, editor at the UK's Electronics Weekly, prophesized the future of work with impeccable accuracy.
"Technology does not cause change but it amplifies change. Early in the next millennium it will deliver the capability to live and work on the move.
People will be able to ask themselves, 'Am I a nomad or a settler?' For the first time in 10,000 years that choice will become a mainstream life-style option. That is the message of DIGITAL NOMAD."
It was more than 20 years before the predictions in Digital Nomad came true. But the term has since stuck. It's a fitting way to describe someone who can roam the world with a remote office in their pocket. Portable technology, affordable travel, and lightning-fast Internet networks have transformed life as we know it - and opened limitless ways to live.
The idea of being a digital nomad -someone who can live and work from anywhere - resonates for a reason. It's the ultimate form of personal freedom,a way to blend what you do for work with where you want to live and the types of experiences you want to have. It's never been possible before and the world will never be the same again.
While I believe that anyone can become a digital nomad, breaking free from the status quo is hard. There's a steep learning curve as location independence is a new concept. Before "taking the leap" from a traditional lifestyle to a nomadic one, you want to know what to expect.
In this chapter, I help you get started in the digital nomad lifestyle. You get familiar with the many paths to becoming a digital nomad, as well as the pros, cons, and costs. I also introduce you to the different interpretations of location independence, debunk common misconceptions, and explain how digital nomads make money.
If the idea of becoming a digital nomad seems like a pipe dream to you, this chapter shows that digital nomads are just like everyone else. And you can be one too.
Digital Nomad was inspired by the concept of Moore's Law. In 1965, Intel co-founder, Gordon Moore, calculated that the number of transistors on a microchip doubled about every two years as the cost of the technology dropped in half. At the time, the only commercially available computer on the market was the DDP-116. It operated on slot cards rather than microchips, weighed 500 pounds, and cost about $260,000 when adjusted for inflation today. Not very practical for a nomadic lifestyle!
But Makimoto and Manners foresaw that increasingly faster, cheaper, and smaller computers with more memory and storage would change the way humans lived and worked. Whereas the first integrated circuit was made up of a single transistor, Apple's 2022 M1 Ultra chip has 114 billion transistors, making it the most powerful personal computer chip in the world at the time of writing this book. It would be hard to imagine life without microchips today, as they are used in almost all forms of technology and electronic devices, from smartphones to spreadsheets, video games, cars, banking, weather forecasting, navigation, medical equipment, and more.
"Digital nomads defy a single definition."
- MBO PARTNERS
Digital nomads are hard to define because, as you find out in this book, they come in all shapes and sizes. At a basic level, a digital nomad is someone who can work from anywhere using the Internet or other technology. Not all nomads work, however. Some live on income from pensions, investments, and other recurring revenue streams they can access remotely.
Digital technology has all but erased borders for business and communication. Just as a remote company doesn't have a physical office or central headquarters, a digital nomad doesn't necessarily have a fixed place of residence. Your home can be wherever you are (or wherever you find Wi-Fi).
Digital nomads can work from anywhere with an Internet connection, and often do. In my years as a nomad, I've worked from the beaches of Bali, the rainforests of Central America, and on a cruise ship floating across the equator. The world has been my remote office for more than fifteen years, and it can be yours, too. Whether you want to work from an Airbnb or an RV, technology makes it possible. You're only limited by your imagination, and perhaps cellular data networks.
Digital nomads have all types of different jobs. They can work for themselves or someone else. They can work part time, full time, or on a contract basis. They can even stop working if they develop ways to live off automated or passive income streams.
Digital nomads can include:
Table 1-1 goes into detail about the different types of digital nomads.
TABLE 1-1 Types of Digital Nomads
Type of Nomad
Description
Remote Employees
People who work remotely on a salary for a company or organization.
Online Freelancers
Self-employed, independent contractors who offer services on an hourly, per-project, or other basis.
Online Business Owners
Entrepreneurs, startup founders, and anyone who runs a virtual business of any size.
Influencers and Content Creators
People who earn a living through social media, publishing online content, and leveraging their personal brand.
Passive Income Entrepreneurs & Investors
People who have achieved financial freedom through investment income or automated income streams.
The term, digital nomad, has become a buzzword. But, as with gender or sexual orientation, digital nomads can choose to identify with another term or kick labels to the curb altogether. Other ways to self-identify under the digital nomad umbrella include:
These are just a few examples of the many ways that people choose to describe their lifestyles.
Remoteness is a sliding scale. Just as there are hybrid organizations, there are also hybrid nomads. You can combine different types of jobs and income streams to create a lifestyle that suits you. Chapters 5 and 6 give more examples.
In this section, I dig deeper into digital nomad demographics. You find out where digital nomads are from, what they do for work, how old they are, and how much they earn. An overview of the U.S. digital nomad population is shown in Figure 1-1. Do you see yourself represented here?
Source: MBO Partners, The Digital Nomad Search Continues, September 2021
FIGURE 1-1: The demographic breakdown of digital nomads in 2021.
You might think that a digital nomad lifestyle is more suited to younger generations, but research shows that people of all ages dabble in digital nomadism. One Facebook groups study calculated the average age of digital nomads to be 40 years old, with the oldest nomad in the study being 72.
In 2021, Millennials made up the largest segment of digital nomads, with 44 percent, followed by Gen X, Gen Z, and Baby Boomers.
Although only 12 percent of digital nomads were Baby Boomers in 2021, according to MBO and FlexJobs, they made up a third of the population two years earlier. Researchers believe this decrease was temporarily attributed to COVID-19 concerns in high-risk groups.
Although most of the...
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