21–30 of 46 posts
Small warning: There’s a slightly shocking gif in this article, which possibly depicts animal cruelty. (Hard to say exactly what’s going on in it).
I get the sense that digital nomadism is akin to a multi-level marketing scam; the only people making actual money are the ones recruiting others to the "lifestyle" by advertising their blogs, books and guides (see OP).
Becoming a digital nomad isn't about making money... in fact if you do it properly it's at best break-even or slightly cheaper than just renting a place to live in the US and staying put, but could be vastly more expensive. It's about exploring the world, expanding your viewpoint, and inspiring you to think differently. Going abroad helped my engineering work immensely, and also gave me a chance use time zones to my advantage to improve my health by adapting my sleep cycle to my body's needs rather than the whims of an employer. It also got me moving much more despite working on a computer all day, which greatly improved my health as well. Being able to leave work and actually go do something new, interesting, and exciting each day had a positive effect on work/life balance and was the perfect way to combat the burnout I was experiencing as a senior engineer before I stepped on the plane.
I don't advocate being a digital nomad, because I think it's something that's not for everybody and it had its own set of challenges and stressors. But I don't think it's some sort of MLM get-rich quick scheme by people either. You are only seeing the aspect of it shown by social media which is dominated by "influencers" using their skill at marketing and manipulation to enrich themselves. But if you talk to most people who lived the lifestyle, they were normal joes doing normal jobs, just in a location-independent fashion. Not everyone who is a digital nomad is a white 20-something from New York or LA that decided to take their affiliate blog on the road and write a book to be self-published by Amazon, probably less than 10% of the digital nomads I met along the way were like that. I met a lot of people during my time due to using coworking facilities in so many places.
Where do people get that energy?
I have this idea where I can work my neck off for 4-6 months (including weekends; essentially eat, sleep, restroom, and work 24x7). And then I need the rest of the year off. I'm not sure how to find this kind of work. Some have advised that I should seek contract work. But contract work is hell, no thanks.
I get the sense that digital nomadism is akin to a multi-level marketing scam; the only people making actual money are the ones recruiting others to the "lifestyle" by advertising their blogs, books and guides (see OP).
The bad part was that I ended up in my early 30's with no money, no job, and a very unattractive CV/Resume. The good part is that I was socially transformed. I'm way more confident now, especially around groups of strangers.
I never wrote about this before nor have I ever written a blog, but I met plenty of people living similar lives. Anyway I guess my point is that there are plenty of people out there doing things without blogging about it. But you're not going to meet them online.
> I wake up around 6 am, go to the gym with my buddy, come back to my room to take a shower, eat a bowl of salad and then leave for work. I get to work around 9 am, leave around 5 to meet friends, hang out, or do whatever activity I was planning for that evening. Where do people get that energy?
This seems to me the idea(s) of a young person who's working (no pun intended) on the small picture, but missing the big one. In short, somebody who doesn't know yet what to do in life, however, not what to do in the planning or business sense (which is what described in the post), but more precisely, what they _want_ to do. To me, rather the conceptualization(s) proposed, the words of John Carmack are immensely more…
I get the sense that digital nomadism is akin to a multi-level marketing scam; the only people making actual money are the ones recruiting others to the "lifestyle" by advertising their blogs, books and guides (see OP).
I don't understand how you could be skeptical of the idea, it's pretty simple. Step 1, have remote job or contract work. Step 2, choose not to stay in one location. The end.
> I wake up around 6 am, go to the gym with my buddy, come back to my room to take a shower, eat a bowl of salad and then leave for work. I get to work around 9 am, leave around 5 to meet friends, hang out, or do whatever activity I was planning for that evening. Where do people get that energy?
I remember that kind of energy was normal when I was content