What is a digital Nomad?
A freelance digital professional who works remotely, basically anywhere. They work on various projects for different clients from anywhere in the world, your desk can be where you want to be.
Digital Nomad Advantages
Freedom is, of course, the biggest advantage to being a digital nomad. You have the autonomy to choose your location, your work hours, your vacation hours, and much more.
Less stress & better quality of life is also a possibility. That’s not to say that a digital nomad life is a vacation, but the little things that caused daily stressors will disappear. Rush-hour commutes, work meetings, and lack of free time can put a lot of pressure on us.
Some more amazing bonuses to being your own boss include:
- better work environment
- oversee your work life balance
- dressing for comfort
- more time for creativity
- traveling the world and exploring
- increased motivation
- self-development
- organizational skills
Digital Nomad Disadvantages
No job or lifestyle is perfect. Every good has its bad and digital nomad life is no exception here.
First of all, being a digital nomad is hard work. There’s no one to guide the way and help you along. You need to figure out paperwork, visas, health insurance, new languages, and international business on your own.
Another possible disadvantage is motivation and discipline. To be your own boss or run your own business, you need an enormous amount of self-discipline and self-mountain. People who prefer to be told what to do and when to do it may run into trouble here.
The most important factor that will dictate your commutes as a digital nomad is WIFI. Frustration of a weak WIFI connection would be a regular occurrence in a digital nomads life. Managing connectivity and workload is a skill a digital nomad need to master in order to be successful.
Some other downsides to the digital nomad life include:
- homesickness
- missing out on big family events
- no income guarantee
- language problems
- feelings of isolation
- finance management
- internet connection
Before setting out into the world and starting the nomad life, you need to figure out what kind of person you are. If you love challenges, independence, travel and are highly self-motivated, this might be the perfect opportunity for you.
Case study: COVID-19 impact on Digital Nomad, US study
COVID-19 also impacted the demographic mix of digital nomads. The share of Baby Boomers fell from 27 percent of digital nomads in 2019 to just 17 percent in 2020, and Gen X’s share fell from 25 percent to 22 percent. This was likely due to older workers being more concerned about COVID-19 and their greater risk of serious illness, making them temporarily less interested in a nomadic lifestyle and more comfortable staying at home. The younger generations, Gen Z and Millennials, increased their share from 48 percent to 62 percent. In addition to being less cautious than older workers, Gen Z and Millennials generally have more location flexibility due to their life stage. Although digital nomads have gotten younger overall, older age groups continue to be well represented, with 28 percent aged 45 or older and 8 percent aged 65 and older.
Digital nomads work in a wide variety of fields, including information technology (12 percent), education and training (11 percent), consulting, coaching, and research (11 percent), sales, marketing, and PR (9 percent), and creative services (8 percent) with other fields represented relatively equally. The unifying theme of these professions is that they can be performed remotely using digital tools and the Internet. From a gender standpoint, more men pursue digital nomadism than women, with a 59 to 41 percent split, consistent with 2019 results. The racial make-up of digital nomads mirrors the US population, which is 70 percent white, 14 percent African American, 7 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian, and 2 percent from another background. This is statistically consistent year-over-year.
More: https://s29814.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MBO-Partners-Digital-Nomad-Report-2020.pdf