Digital Nomads – working from anywhere

In a digital world, we can work from anywhere. The concept of living and working as a digital nomad is becoming more and more accepted and popular – with the Internet erasing country boarders and making it possible for people working in the digital field to have the whole world as their playground. Basically, people can live of their backpack and go work from wherever they please, while supporting their clients online.

I came across an interesting article on how “Digital Nomads Are Redefining What It Means To Be Productive” by Forbes contributer Kavi Guppta (@kaviguppta). Kavi himself is a digital nomad, currently based in Australia, who has had the opportunity to connect with other like-minded people while traveling around the globe for the past 10 months. In his Forbes article, he focuses on two people in particular that have come to inspire him – Pieter Levels (@levelsio) who’s goal is to launch 12 startups in 12 months – and Youjin Do (@youjindo) who is currently producing the documentary “One way ticket – a digital nomad documentary”. Both exciting individuals to follow on Twitter to learn more about how one can erase the need of a permanent address and instead move around the world, staying in the same place for a couple of  months to get inspired and to make new connections, before packing the bags and heading off again.

One of Pieter Levels’ start-up companies is nomadlist.com – a guide to the best places to live and work remotely. Here one can find information on cost of living, how big of a freelance crowd there is in a city, how many co-working spaces are available to join, the start-up climate, average rents, and of course, the Internet speed available in the place. Levels’ has also created nomadjobs.io where remote jobs at startups are listed, with a reach of 250 000 remote workers.

According to Wikipedia, a Digital Nomad is:

Digital nomads are individuals who leverage telecommunications technologies to perform their work duties, and more generally conduct their lifestyle in a nomadic manner. Such workers typically work remotely—from home, coffee shops, public libraries and even from recreational vehicles to accomplish tasks and goals that used to traditionally take place in a single stationary workplace.

Mashable also wrote an article on the subject this fall that sums it up pretty good: “Digital nomads travel the world while you rot in your office“. In the article Victoria Yershova, who runs Digital Nomad Hub, defines three types of digital nomads — freelance professionals (programmers, writers), online entrepreneurs and remote employees who started out in the office but are now out traveling.

The three types of jobs I mentioned above do not contradict each other and are often combined, since many digital nomads tend to set up several income sources at once. For instance, I work for an Italian PR company as an Italian-English-Russian translator, do some freelance copywriting and have a niche website that brings me money through advertising, Yershova explains to Mashable.

The old rule of work was nine to five and a morning commute to the office everyday. The new work day is anywhere and any time. Fast Company contributor Jay Cassano poses an interesting question: “Does The New York Subway Know The 9 To 5 Is Dead?“. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is having problems planning the train schedule because people have started traveling outside the traditional morning and evening commutes. Ross Perlin, also for Fast Company, takes the discussion further in her article “These Are The New Rules of Work“. The digital era is changing how, when and even where we work – making both employers and employees more flexible, and maybe forever allowing us to bid farewell to rush hour?

It’s easy to romanticize about working in a sun chair at a picture perfect beach while enjoying a pi?a colada with your computer steady in your knee. However, a digital nomadic lifestyle can just as well be people living in a large city, working from different spots like cafés, an apartment, a hotel room or a co-working space where they rent a desk for an amount of time. It literally means people that are not bound to an office to do their job. That can focus, maybe even better, by changing environments and moving around. But they can still be just as effective as someone sitting at the same desk from 9 to 5 every day, year in and year out.

Of course, a digital nomadic lifestyle is not for everyone, but with the the technology at hand, it’s easier than ever to work from anywhere. And it doesn’t have to mean leaving your hometown either. In a Wired article from 2013, it is stated that Forrester Research’s US Telecommuting Forecast notes that 34 million Americans work from home: “The New Workplace Reality: Out of the Office“. Kenneth Rapoza for Forbes writes: “One In Five Americans Work From Home.” And 54% say they are happier that way. Guardian London-based blogger Donna Ferguson asks the question: Why aren’t we all working from home today? All three articles discussing the future of the corporate office. Is the office itself really such an important factor of how to get us to work?

Co-working spaces are popping up everywhere, and are now estimated to over 20,000 across the globe—a doubling globally since 2008, according to Perlin in her Fast Company article.

The other month my list of great cafés with free Wi-Fi in some of the world’s greatest metropolitans was published on leading Swedish tech-site Internetworld: V?rldens b?sta n?tfik med gratis wifi – h?r ?r hela listan. I've also written a piece for Swedish online sustainability publication Sapir on what it means to be a Digital Nomad: Skribenten Emelie F?gelstedt om att vara digital nomad.

I don’t know if I can define myself as a hard-core digital nomad. However, I have just returned to Stockholm after having been based in Tokyo for 1,5 years, thanks to my husband's job, while working with clients in both Tokyo, Stockholm, Gothenburg and New York simultaneously. The past year I have brought my computer along on any overseas trip I have made and thus worked from different spaces in both Tokyo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Seoul, Taipei, Sydney and San Francisco. This fall we are planning a move to London, and I intend to keep on working the same way. Supporting my clients without the need to meet them in person daily. Becoming an even better resource for them by growing myself and learning by the different environments that I encounter, and by the people I meet.