🏖️ Blame it on the digital nomads? | Ep22 OoO

🌍 Story Time: The 7 Wonders of the World

🦹🏼‍♂️ Reality Check: Digital Nomads are Real People

🤦🏼‍♀️Remote Workers: Not Digital Nomads

🆘 Bad Business: Stock photos on the Beach

Hey! Welcome Back

As you know, I’m hitting the road this year and taking Out of Office with me.

Ever since the announcement I’ve been thinking about – you guessed it – digital nomads. So, this week, I’m shifting gears to address the perception surrounding the digital nomad life.

I take a minute to share a personal story with you, and to ponder on some curious insights about the nature of work while traveling. Digital nomads are exceptional people, but they cause a lot of trouble for remote workers.

It’s episode 22 and this week we’re looking at digital nomad culture.

Buckle up, this one’s going places -

The 7 Wonders: My Digital Nomad Dream

A few years ago, I booked a trip to Rio de Janeiro with a specific goal in mind.

Aside from the obvious appeal of visiting a beautiful place like Rio, it was also on my bucket list.

For 12 years, I was obsessed with completing the biggest goal at the top of that list: to see the 7 wonders of the world. I saw wonders in Italy, Jordon, Mexico, China, Peru, India and the only remaining ancient wonder of the world in Egypt.

All of my time, savings and dreams were spent on travel. I even started a travel blog that got quite popular – so I managed to do some of it for free.

When I finally made it to Brazil my adrenaline was pumping! There I was, standing in front of Christ the Redeemer, my veins thrumming to a drumroll heartbeat.

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❤️ How many other people had actually seen all 7 wonders?

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❤️ How many spoke about it but never really tried?

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ❤️ Will I ever have a goal this big again?

It was done.

The thing I thought about most was the struggle. It was hard to travel a lot while holding down a full-time job.

To make it happen, I moved countries three times – otherwise it would have been impossible. Back then, I dreamed of a future where I could take my job with me.

🤩 A job I could do anywhere in the world, at any time.

I dreamed of that #digitalnomadlife.

Reality Strikes: The Mythology of Digital Nomadism

There was a time when I would have loved to be a digital nomad.

They are awesome.

It’s been over 4 years since my Brazil trip. For 2 of those, I’ve been working in a full-time remote job that I found on Crossover. This job is a perfect fit for digital nomads.

Most of my work is asynchronous and can be done from any time zone in the world. All I really need is coffee, a charged laptop, and some patchy wi-fi. 💻😎☕

When I took this job, I thought: game on.

Remote work is going to be a blast – working from the beach in the morning, from cafés in the afternoon, and spending my free time exploring the exotic nooks and crannies of the world.

It would be exactly like those digital nomad stock photos I’d seen on Google.

A few months in, and I realized how insanely unrealistic that idea was. Downright silly, I’d call it. My job is no less taxing than an office job. Working that hard doesn’t lend itself to travel, because travel is also exhausting.

I put a lot into my work and the extreme focus tires me the hell out. When the time comes to log off, I’m pooped! The only thing I want to explore, is the next episode of my favorite Netflix show.

I can’t imagine doing my job from a beach. It makes a compelling stock photo, but in reality? You’d get sand in your MacBook, a headache from the glare, and sunburn on your eyelids. It’s not an environment that suits productive work.

😐 It just isn’t.

Digital Nomads: Being Misunderstood Since Forever  

Here’s the thing. The stereotype that digital nomads are globe-trotting free spirits that are somehow able to work like supercharged machines is not harmless.

The whole ‘have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too’ myth is actively harmful.

Like I said before, it’s not their fault. They’re great.

The real problem creeps in with the conflation of words. Somewhere along the line, ‘remote worker’ and ‘digital nomad’ became synonymous.

The terms are used interchangeably – even though they mean two completely different things.

🐱 House Cats Are Not Lions 🦁

Imagine if every time you spoke about house cats, I thought you were referring to lions! It’s the same thing.

You could justify passing a law banning cats from being kept as pets.

🏖️ Digital Nomads Are Not Remote Workers 🏘️

That’s what has happened to remote work.

Remember those fiery CEO’s who point-blank refuse to acknowledge the evidence that remote work is more productive than being at the office? It’s because when they think of remote work, they think about digital nomads.

The little search engine whirring away in their brains returns that same stock images that I once believed were true. But it’s a lie. A convenient, infuriating lie.

Digital Nomads are Bad for Business

I’m calling it – because of this association digital nomads are seen as bad for business. Slovenly. Beach-tanned and unmotivated. Bums!

Sigh. The reality is that the opposite is true, and has been proven by nearly every major study of the past 3 years. I should have known this was the case.

Signs are everywhere that people think digital nomads and remote workers 👏 are 👏 the 👏 same 👏 thing.

Here are some examples:

• 👨🏼‍⚖️ Politicians whose only laws on remote work are digital nomad visas. These visas only affect the tiniest percentage of remote workers who take their job on the road.
• 🤨 Employees who work in the same city year-after-year. They assume they’re not the target market for a remote job. And they’re so suspicious of jobs that pay more than their local rate. (Where is the scam!)

Truth is – remote work isn’t that different from any other job.

It has its ups and downs, and can be just as exciting, or as difficult as an office gig. There are some folks who have remote jobs and decide to travel the world.

They are the digital nomads we know and love – but they’re a microscopic minority. It’s high time the world recognized that this (badass) group doesn’t represent the majority of remote workers.

Most of us spend every day at the same desk, in the same chair. We focus just as much and work just as furiously as our office counterparts. I’d argue that we work harder.  

The reality of remote work is not as exciting as working on a beach, in a kind of permanent job-vacation purgatory. That’s the point.

Even a lifelong traveler like me who might suit the digital nomad lifestyle, sees red flags. For me, the best place to work remotely is going to be a kitted-out, comfortable home office.

Not a micro-hotel desk at an international Holiday-Inn, or on a noisy plane – or surrounded by technology-destroying sand and saltwater.

🦜 Still, a couple months ago a brand new digital nomad village opened in Brazil. It looks epic. I bet I could work productively from there, and would love to go and check it out. For a bit.

But that experience would only represent remote work in the same way lions represent house cats. 🐈🚫🦁

What do you think?

Is digital nomad culture ruining it for the rest of us? I could be wrong.

That’s this week’s episode and remember – the future of work is Out of Office.  

Andrew

This Week’s Shareable

• When you say ‘remote worker’ do you see a digital nomad in your mind? They aren’t the same, and this conflation of terms is problematic. This week, Andrew explores the damaging idea that ALL remote workers are on the move. Get the scoop on OOO. #digitalnomadlife #digitalnomad

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