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I'd say 95% of digital nomads are just online marketers who market their own lifestyle so that they can sell a course on how to imitate them. And obviously, the

I'd say 95% of digital nomads are just online marketers who market their own lifestyle so that they can sell a course on how to imitate them. And obviously, their customers will imitate them and sell a course on how to imitate them. And so the cycle continues.

netsharc 6y ago
I've fantasised about the vanlife, living the nomad lifestyle out of a van. When looking for build inspiration videos on YouTube, I ended up seeing a lot of vanlife "influencers", but what I notice is many videos just have a few thousand views, which is surely not enough to make a living..
- ryanar 6y ago
  I also fantasized about vanlife. Eamon & Bec is an awesome channel if you want to learn about that sort of thing. They certainly grew their channel enough to be comfortable.
  - seppin 6y ago
    vanlife, digital nomad, etc. It's all the same. You are only presented with the highs, not the lows.
- fxtentacle 6y ago
  Most influencers can't make a living. There's so many of them that it's a buyer's market. When I was still selling naughty bikinis online, I did a few promotions with Instagram yoga teachers and I was always surprised by how low their asking prices were. I guess most of them valued having any success to show for it much higher than being paid a livable wage.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  It's a meme, man. I did the van thing for a year while working in Australia on the NBN (big fibre optic project). Drove around and spliced and oversaw fibre projects. It gets old pretty fast, has tons of hidden costs, and looks quaint and romantic to people who've never had to do it. Fun for a year, but I probably would have paid almost as much just booking into hostels or AirBnB's and renting a car on occasion. I was able to go and see some cool places -- but breaking down in remote South Australia was scary and frustrating. And you get really, really tired of the lack of space. What made it tolerable was being able to get out of the van and chill in places like the library or a coffee shop-- likely all no-gos in the COVID era
peteretep 6y ago
> I'd say 95% of digital nomads are just online marketers It’s strange ‘cuz I’ve been working in digital nomad hotspots for years and have met very very few people like that. Lots of translators, programmers, and then a complete mishmash of other people, but very few people selling courses, and the ones who _were_ selling courses generally nothing to do with being a digital nomad
- moltar 6y ago
  Same here. I’ve been nomading for ten years. I haven’t met a single person who was not legit doing something of value. The closest I came to one was an online poker player in Chiang Mai back in 2010. Maybe we just hang out in the “right” circles? It’s probably just like in real life. I have never met anyone offering me a generic (non nomad) Ponzi scheme. But I sure had several legit investment opportunities thru my circles.
  - seppin 6y ago
    > I’ve been nomading for ten years. The most i've ever been able to do was half a year. How can you choose to be without a real home that long?
    - peteretep 6y ago
      > How can you choose to be without a real home that long? Depends what you mean by "real home" I guess. I have a tiny apartment in Bangkok, where we would normally spend ~ 8 weeks a year in total a year, and then we rent ad-hoc or stay with family the rest
      - seppin 6y ago
        Ah ok you are married. Do you have long term friends locally ? Is your wife your anchor to a local community ?
        peteretep 6y ago

netsharc 6y ago

I've fantasised about the vanlife, living the nomad lifestyle out of a van. When looking for build inspiration videos on YouTube, I ended up seeing a lot of vanlife "influencers", but what I notice is many videos just have a few thousand views, which is surely not enough to make a living..

ryanar 6y ago
I also fantasized about vanlife. Eamon & Bec is an awesome channel if you want to learn about that sort of thing. They certainly grew their channel enough to be comfortable.
- seppin 6y ago
  vanlife, digital nomad, etc. It's all the same. You are only presented with the highs, not the lows.
fxtentacle 6y ago
Most influencers can't make a living. There's so many of them that it's a buyer's market. When I was still selling naughty bikinis online, I did a few promotions with Instagram yoga teachers and I was always surprised by how low their asking prices were. I guess most of them valued having any success to show for it much higher than being paid a livable wage.
blaser-waffle 6y ago
It's a meme, man. I did the van thing for a year while working in Australia on the NBN (big fibre optic project). Drove around and spliced and oversaw fibre projects. It gets old pretty fast, has tons of hidden costs, and looks quaint and romantic to people who've never had to do it. Fun for a year, but I probably would have paid almost as much just booking into hostels or AirBnB's and renting a car on occasion. I was able to go and see some cool places -- but breaking down in remote South Australia was scary and frustrating. And you get really, really tired of the lack of space. What made it tolerable was being able to get out of the van and chill in places like the library or a coffee shop-- likely all no-gos in the COVID era

peteretep 6y ago

> I'd say 95% of digital nomads are just online marketers It’s strange ‘cuz I’ve been working in digital nomad hotspots for years and have met very very few people like that. Lots of translators, programmers, and then a complete mishmash of other people, but very few people selling courses, and the ones who _were_ selling courses generally nothing to do with being a digital nomad

moltar 6y ago
Same here. I’ve been nomading for ten years. I haven’t met a single person who was not legit doing something of value. The closest I came to one was an online poker player in Chiang Mai back in 2010. Maybe we just hang out in the “right” circles? It’s probably just like in real life. I have never met anyone offering me a generic (non nomad) Ponzi scheme. But I sure had several legit investment opportunities thru my circles.
- seppin 6y ago
  > I’ve been nomading for ten years. The most i've ever been able to do was half a year. How can you choose to be without a real home that long?
  - peteretep 6y ago
    > How can you choose to be without a real home that long? Depends what you mean by "real home" I guess. I have a tiny apartment in Bangkok, where we would normally spend ~ 8 weeks a year in total a year, and then we rent ad-hoc or stay with family the rest
    - seppin 6y ago
      Ah ok you are married. Do you have long term friends locally ? Is your wife your anchor to a local community ?
      - peteretep 6y ago