6 ms·

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 "lifest

by zozin 6y ago

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).

jamalx31 6y ago
a digital nomad myself I have to disagree. digital nomadism is just a life style like any other, and it's not for everyone. I know many ppl who tried it and went back to 9-5 jobs and thats totally fine
- mszcz 6y ago
  Where can I buy your book on how to do it successfully? :))
  - jamalx31 6y ago
    hehe, I didn't write one (yet :p). but if you wanna chat about it, i'm down. ping me on twitter
    - mszcz 6y ago
      Oh, it was just a joke ;) I've been down this road way too many times - procrastinating instead of working by "researching" or "learning" how to do things differently, more efficiently, learing new tools, paradigms etc. that will improve my productivity and whatnot. What I've learned is it's way better to just do stuff and improve things as you go (be that the optimal way to be a digital nomad or whatever ;)
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
I guess I'd disagree, since multi-level marketing scams are marketed as ways to make money, and as a general rule that is not what digital nomadism is marketed as.
tristor 6y ago
As someone who was a digital nomad and now works more or less permanently from home in the US, I can say that this is absolutely not true. There are definitely "digital nomads" that could be described that way because they are operating affiliates businesses off of a travel blog and monetizing social media, and I guess more power to them. But most of the digital nomads I met, including myself, worked actual full-time jobs for actual companies while abroad. 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.
digitalhobo33 6y ago
Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and I played video games all day and partied 5 or 6 nights a week. I ended up killing the business through neglect, but that final year of total freedom was worth it. 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.
- bythckr 6y ago
  a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?
  - austhrow743 6y ago
    Software development is huge with remote work.
  - steveklabnik 6y ago
    I don't know if I ever identified with "digital nomad," but I have traveled a lot. Roles that are what is now called "developer relations" or similar effectively force you into an adjacent lifestyle. Freelance development can often support this kind of thing. Basically, any sort of remote job.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      Similarly, I've never thought of myself as a "digital nomad" and actually do own a house. But prior to travel shutting down, it would absolutely have been practical for me to put my stuff in storage, ask a friend or family member to let me use their address as my home address, and live at least around the Americas or Europe as I saw fit. Given that I was traveling 1/3 of the time anyway, what's another 2/3rds?
austhrow743 6y ago
If you're not a digital nomad yourself or otherwise living in digital nomad desirable locations it would make sense that you never encounter any organically, and that just leaves you with those that are pushing the lifestyle. 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.

by zozin 6y ago

jamalx31 6y ago

a digital nomad myself I have to disagree. digital nomadism is just a life style like any other, and it's not for everyone. I know many ppl who tried it and went back to 9-5 jobs and thats totally fine

mszcz 6y ago
Where can I buy your book on how to do it successfully? :))
- jamalx31 6y ago
  hehe, I didn't write one (yet :p). but if you wanna chat about it, i'm down. ping me on twitter
  - mszcz 6y ago
    Oh, it was just a joke ;) I've been down this road way too many times - procrastinating instead of working by "researching" or "learning" how to do things differently, more efficiently, learing new tools, paradigms etc. that will improve my productivity and whatnot. What I've learned is it's way better to just do stuff and improve things as you go (be that the optimal way to be a digital nomad or whatever ;)

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

I guess I'd disagree, since multi-level marketing scams are marketed as ways to make money, and as a general rule that is not what digital nomadism is marketed as.

tristor 6y ago

As someone who was a digital nomad and now works more or less permanently from home in the US, I can say that this is absolutely not true. There are definitely "digital nomads" that could be described that way because they are operating affiliates businesses off of a travel blog and monetizing social media, and I guess more power to them. But most of the digital nomads I met, including myself, worked actual full-time jobs for actual companies while abroad. 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.

digitalhobo33 6y ago

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and I played video games all day and partied 5 or 6 nights a week. I ended up killing the business through neglect, but that final year of total freedom was worth it. 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.

bythckr 6y ago
a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?
- austhrow743 6y ago
  Software development is huge with remote work.
- steveklabnik 6y ago
  I don't know if I ever identified with "digital nomad," but I have traveled a lot. Roles that are what is now called "developer relations" or similar effectively force you into an adjacent lifestyle. Freelance development can often support this kind of thing. Basically, any sort of remote job.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Similarly, I've never thought of myself as a "digital nomad" and actually do own a house. But prior to travel shutting down, it would absolutely have been practical for me to put my stuff in storage, ask a friend or family member to let me use their address as my home address, and live at least around the Americas or Europe as I saw fit. Given that I was traveling 1/3 of the time anyway, what's another 2/3rds?

austhrow743 6y ago

If you're not a digital nomad yourself or otherwise living in digital nomad desirable locations it would make sense that you never encounter any organically, and that just leaves you with those that are pushing the lifestyle. 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.