I would never hire anyone that “works” like this. This all reeks of bullshit, the whole working nomad lifestyle. I know people that do it. Their definition of work and mine are very different.
I went full nomad and it almost broke me
61–70 of 100 posts
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#62Former full Digital Nomad and current sporadic Digital Nomad here (37 countries so far). First time I "went rogue" and left everything behind was more a rejection and "overdose" of normality. Repeating the same day over and over and little to no variation beside the name of the source code file. I didn't know what I was doing, but I became good at it quickly enough. > Nomadic life is hugely variable and it’s difficul…
How do digital nomads deal with paying income taxes (assuming they are programming or freelancing along the way)?
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
This type of writing/speak is the equivalent of the classic interview response: "My biggest weakness is that I'm such a hard worker." It doesn't feel honest. I wonder if that is because the author is a founding member of digital nomad community/agency, honestly I have no idea exactly what it does because the website is super vauge, so to question the lifestyle is to question his livelihood.
Hi there - author here! Super Global is a nonprofit tech advisory service for social impact organisations. We also have a community of creative & tech agencies who want to do use their expertise for good. Not nomad related but the name does conjure those images!
I mean no disrespect, but perhaps my honest opinion might help a you a bit, though I could be totally wrong.
Your hook, “Super Global is a nonprofit tech advisory service for social impact organizations.”, makes me feel like you think I’m stupid and is personally a turn off.
You’re an IT consultant that specializes in the charity industry. Everything else is just buzzword bingo.
Your non-profit status is meaningless to anyone who understands corporate structures and social impact organization seems to be a new-age word for charity.
The charity industry is big business and people make a lot of money in it. While I really do appreciate their positive impact, the virtue signalling is tiresome.
If your hook works for you, great, don’t change a thing. But to me it’s cringe worthy and might not be helping you. Sometimes being more direct is better.
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#64I've been a nomad for almost 2 years now changing countries often (about 10 different ones) while working remotely for various companies with a dependent spouse and practically no savings. It's stressful because changing countries always turns out to be a lot more expensive than it seems, also changing companies as well is difficult; it's mostly contracting so sometimes they don't pay on time. Remote work is also dra…
Do you mind sharing more about how being nomad helps your job hunting? Do you spend time on-site with clients? Do you interview with local clients, then take the job with you?
First of all, if you move often and apply to jobs in various countries, some recruiters take note of that; they probably assign you a flag in their system that says that you're 'willing to relocate' so you often get offers for lucrative overseas contracts sometimes in low-tax (or no-tax) jurisdictions like Gibraltar, Dubai...
Another benefit is that if you see a company you like, you know that you can just go work for them at their HQ wherever they might be. Really good companies are often the ones which attract talent from all over the world. If other talented people are prepared to fly half-way across the world and leave behind all their friends and families on a short notice to work for a company, then you know that this company is almost certainly doing something special.
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#65I've been a nomad for almost 2 years now changing countries often (about 10 different ones) while working remotely for various companies with a dependent spouse and practically no savings. It's stressful because changing countries always turns out to be a lot more expensive than it seems, also changing companies as well is difficult; it's mostly contracting so sometimes they don't pay on time. Remote work is also dra…
I'm shocked that living in hotels requires a high income. Shocked.
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Love what you're doing but I've always thought of your site as more of a "Lifestyle Porn" niche. Similar in a way to the money moustache guy who retired really early. Most people aren't going to actually try for the lifestyle since chances are it wouldn't work for them (or they won't work for it) but love the idea of hacking life so you can get away from the 9-5.
Do you know how the Money Moustache guy retired early? I always felt something off about his blog. Some good posts for sure in isolation but as a whole it never felt right. Now it makes sense. I and most others don't have the luxury of retiring early (yet ;))
He advocates for prioritizing your health, do cool free stuff instead of cool non free stuff and do not be too materialistic. The more you read, the more you understand this is not even about saving or retiring early.
He retired early by having a high (but not sky high) income and saving like 50-70% of it.
Nothing he did is unbelievable, you can't apply everything but you can apply a lot and it really gives benefits, no matter if your goal is to retire early or not.
Plus he doesn't sell anything and doesn't fool anyone to earn money. :)
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#67I've been a nomad for almost 2 years now changing countries often (about 10 different ones) while working remotely for various companies with a dependent spouse and practically no savings. It's stressful because changing countries always turns out to be a lot more expensive than it seems, also changing companies as well is difficult; it's mostly contracting so sometimes they don't pay on time. Remote work is also dra…
I'm shocked that living in hotels requires a high income. Shocked.
Usually I do AirBnb which is much cheaper but on rare occasions hotels are the best options.
If I plan to stay 6 months+, I will get a lease, but it's sometimes tricky depending on the country.
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#68Former full Digital Nomad and current sporadic Digital Nomad here (37 countries so far). First time I "went rogue" and left everything behind was more a rejection and "overdose" of normality. Repeating the same day over and over and little to no variation beside the name of the source code file. I didn't know what I was doing, but I became good at it quickly enough. > Nomadic life is hugely variable and it’s difficul…
How do digital nomads deal with paying income taxes (assuming they are programming or freelancing along the way)?
If you spend more than 6 month outside of your home base country, it gets complicated. I did that once and wont do it again.
This year I only spent ~2 months on the road so there is no problems. From now on, that probably will be the way to go. A real home base all year long with a big (or 2) big Digital Nomad trips. Being "homeless" and full Nomad is a little too much (unless you got a VR or something, but that restrict you to North/South America)
You also have to take into account who pay the value added taxes, that's the complicated part. When in Canada, depending on the province, one of the tax is paid by the customer and I charge the customer the other one. When clients are outside of the country, but I am legally working from Canada, then it's export and it's their problem. Some there is a lot of gotcha and product categories and trade deals. Thankfully I only work in a single field, so I don't have to learn them all.
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi there - author here! Super Global is a nonprofit tech advisory service for social impact organisations. We also have a community of creative & tech agencies who want to do use their expertise for good. Not nomad related but the name does conjure those images!
I mean no disrespect, but perhaps my honest opinion might help a you a bit, though I could be totally wrong. Your hook, “Super Global is a nonprofit tech advisory service for social impact organizations .”, makes me feel like you think I’m stupid and is personally a turn off. You’re an IT consultant that specializes in the charity industry. Everything else is just buzzword bingo. Your non-profit status is meaningless…
> Your non-profit status is meaningless to anyone who understands corporate structures
Care to clue the rest of us in?
Re: I went full nomad and it almost broke me
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Driving alone around in Africa is what you consider life? I know working 9-5 is not a good life. However working on something you love, in an environment with friends and family and fun, is a good life i.m.h.o. I always have the feeling nomads always need to shout of the roofs of "how much better their life is". However I do think, what you are doing is super cool. However seeing it as "this is the only life thats wo…
> I always have the feeling nomads always need to shout of the roofs of "how much better their life is". If you travel as a nomad and pass through places that serve as meeting points with nomads, you tend to find that while some blog their travels and recommend the lifestyle to everyone else, there are plenty of people quietly living the life, without any internet presence documenting it, and they might be very quiet…
Thanks for your story. It's tough to avoid the tendency to assume the more visible individuals are representative of the group. But as you note, that usually isn't the case, so we should try to avoid doing so.