The Truth About Being a Digital Nomad

Since I can remember, I loved to travel.

As a kid, we’d go on one big foreign holiday every summer. When the tickets arrived in the post, it was just the most exciting thing. Soon they’d unlock passage to some exotic faraway land.

Of course, these days tickets are electronic. But I still love to travel.

And I’m definitely not alone. 35 million people now make the most of their location independence as digital nomads. This growing group of laptop workers are from diverse backgrounds, but are united by one common interest.

They want to experience the adventure of living and working abroad.

If you’ve never done anything like this before, then maybe you’re wondering what kind of work digital nomads actually do. I had the same question, until I jumped in and tried it.

There are 3 distinct categories of digital nomad. Thankfully none of them insists on you trying to work from a beach, with the sun glaring on your screen.

Which category will you fall into?

The challenge of combining work and travel

In the days before I realised remote working was a possibility, I hopped between software development jobs a lot.

When I left a job, I always made sure to take a few months off.

• I taught English in ancient Italian towns
• I stayed in homestays in Spanish hilltop villages.
• I crossed 14 countries by train to reach South-East Asia.

But there was a problem.

Every time I went away, I’d eventually run out of money and have to come home to find more work. It happened again and again.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed my work. It’s just that back then in my mind, work and travel were two separate activities. Never to be combined.

Until after one of these sabbaticals, I found a remote software development role.

The Remote Employee Digital Nomad

I landed the job and soon became a member of digital nomad category #1. The remote employee.

If there’s one upside to the pandemic, it’s that many more people work remotely, often with the possibility of doing so from abroad.

These are the professionals previously associated with office jobs.

• Accountants
• Designers
• Marketers
• HR professionals
• Software developers

Some companies have fully embraced location independence, while others might take more convincing before you go ahead and book a flight.

Fortunately, I earned the trust of the 100 person company I was working for. In 2021, they let me work from The Canary Islands.

My manager’s only request: “Don’t talk about going to the beach during every morning meeting”.

So what was my first digital nomad experience like?

I could tell you about the subtropical climate. Or about the sandy beaches stretching for miles. Or perhaps the misty mountaintop pine forests. I’ll spare you all that.

Instead, here are 3 key lessons I learned being a remote employee.

1. You’re not on holiday. Your employer expects the same output as when you’re home. If you stop working, they stop sending you money.
2. Internet connections can be ropey on a mid-Atlantic island. Read the Airbnb description carefully before booking.
3. If you’re doing a straight 8 hour work day, that could be most of the daylight hours gone. So much for exploring your new surroundings. Flexi-time, anyone?

Of course, as an employee you’re in your employer’s metaphorical pocket, whether you’re home or away.

Want to work in the early morning or evening, and spend all day sightseeing? You’re going to need a different approach.

The Remote Freelancer Digital Nomad

That’s one of the reasons I quit my job in 2021. It helped me graduate to digital nomad category #2. The remote freelancer.

This describes anyone with specific in-demand skills, that they can sell to clients on short to medium term projects.

Think:

• Web designers
• Copywriters
• Graphic designers
• Video editors

Of course, you’ll want to plan carefully before going all in as a remote freelancer. For example, how are you going to find freelance clients? If you get this off the ground though, you’ll have a lot more flexibility on when you complete your work.

That was my experience during a 4 week trip to Finland last year. Every morning, I worked on setting up my client’s systems on Amazon Web Services. All from my Airbnb, in the snowy North of the country.

The rest of the time I took inspiring walks through the freezing landscapes, sizzled in the saunas, and uploaded GoPro footage to my secret travel YouTube channel.

Remote freelancing was more flexible, but definitely not without its cons for digital nomads.

Here are 3 lessons I learned.

1. Your client is relying on you. Just because you want to spend a day husky sledding through the forest, doesn’t mean your client’s going to change his deadlines.
2. Clients can actually be very easy going. None of my clients ever expected fast replies to emails or ever called me without first messaging. That really helps you switch off from work when you’re away from the desk.
3. Calls with a client might be scheduled at inconvenient times. That can mess up your plans to get all your work done before the client, in a different time zone, has even logged on for the day.

You might be thinking, this still sounds great. Working from remote locations, with some flexibilty to explore when you want to. I agree.

But remember I said there were 3 types of digital nomad?

The Remote Entrepreneur Digital Nomad

The 3rd one is the pinnacle. The ultimate way to experience life from another location. As a remote entrepreneur.

While the remote employee and freelancer trade time for money, the remote entrepreneur builds products to leverage their time.

I tried this earlier this year when I stayed in Europe’s digital nomad hot-spot, Lisbon.

I had no employer. I didn’t have any clients. But I was working on my own business. Adding value to the marketplace with my own projects.

Yes, I had customers.

Living the remote entrepreneur lifestyle is still a work in progress for me as I scale up my business. But I’m determined to get there.

Imagine the flexibility you could have as a solopreneur, selling digital products that are both highly scalable and almost fully automated.

That leaves a lot of time to ride trams around the city, eat multiple Portuguese custard tarts, and get lost in beautiful abandoned wine factories.

Having already had a taste of this lifestyle, here’s one important point to note:

With no boss or client to report to, you need a way to stay focussed and keep your business on the right track. Flexibility is good, but if you spend all day every day in museums, your business might never gain the momentum to cover your living expenses.

Deciding to take the plunge

In the cafes of Lisbon, you see all 3 types of digital nomad working diligently from their laptops.

I was inspired by all this. People of all ages trying to live their ideal life. Pushing the boundaries of what we think work can be.

After decades of long commutes, suits, office politics, and people trying to look busy, I believe digital nomads are leading us towards a more productive future. A healthier future.

I’m all in. The next time you read a post on this site, it could be from anywhere.