Why I want to become a Digital Nomad and why my company should be down with it.

Digital Nomad. It’s not a term I necessarily like as it seems to carry an entitled connotation with it, but what it represents is something I’ve become encapsulated by. The ability to travel around the world while working. It seems like a dream but, like many other things, it’s a dream that the internet has made a reality.

I’ve been following the movement closely ever since Pieter Levels set out to to launch 12 start ups in 12 months while traveling the world. Since then, it seems that Digital Nomadism has forced it’s way into the consciousness of the tech world and people have begun flocking to this lifestyle. There are now well established communities of people doing this and Digital Nomad hubs are forming around the world. Many companies have fully embraced this movement and are working as completely distributed teams. It seems as this may be the way of the future, but at the very least, I want it to be the way of my present.

Becoming a Digital Nomad is definitely not something everyone wants to do or has the ability to do. The idea of it is as much daunting as it is exciting, but the barriers to entry of this lifestyle are getting smaller everyday. I’m lucky enough to be in a position where this is a very real possibility and I’m at the point where I need to find out if being a Digital Nomad is as sexy as it sounds. However, something I need to do before this becomes a reality is to get my company on board and convince them this is the right move for both of us.

Why I want to become a digital nomad

• SPOILER ALERT. I want to see the world. Figured I might as well get the obvious one out of the way.
• I love working and I love my life outside of work, but I find that each distracts from the other. I don’t want to have such a distinction between work time and playtime, and want everything to just be seamlessly integrated into what forms my life.
• Remote work gives me the power to design my weeks and I can fit work time and playtime together in a way that makes the most sense for me.
• When I’m in a new city or unfamiliar place, I always have a burst of energy and excitement. When I’m settled down somewhere, I naturally fall into a routine and lose the day to day excitement of just being alive.
• One of the things I cherish the most in life is meeting new people and forming strong connections. I find it much harder to meet people when I’m settled down in a city. The more comfortable I get, the more I close up and don’t give myself the opportunities to meet people.
• “Comfort is the enemy of creativity” — When I’m continuously having new experiences, creative thoughts and ideas pour in. However, when I’m too comfortable and in a routine, my mind doesn’t get the stimulation it needs and seems to go into autopilot.
• I’m lucky enough to have an amazing girlfriend, and having to spend the vast majority of my days away from her isn’t something I’m willing to do.
• It scares the shit out of me. If this isn’t a great reason to do something, than I don’t know what is.

Why my company should want me to become a digital nomad

• When I’m working in an office, my work feels too hours-focused. If I was in the office from 9–6 today, then it feels as though I’ve done my job. I prefer a more results-based approach. When I’m not in an office I’m much more focused on getting things done, which is all that really matters.
• When working in an office, you’re expected to work in these massive blocks of time. I’m much more productive working smaller bursts of time and then taking short breaks when I feel my productivity dropping. This also allows me to focus my work around those periods of maximum productivity, whether it’s 6:30am or 11:30pm.
• Nothing opens your mind and expands the size of your dreams more than travelling does. When being settled in a city and industry, it’s easy to lose scope of how huge the world is and how much opportunity there is out there. Because I’ll be in countries so drastically different than where I’m from, my vision for the company will undoubtedly expand. I’ll be on the front lines of finding how our startup could enter into emerging markets and industries.
• I’ll essentially be a travelling inbound marketing strategy. I’ll be constantly meeting new people and telling them about what I do and the company I work for. Our product has a large demographic of customers and these encounters all have potential to find new clients and form new partnerships.
• I’ll be much happier with my work fitting into my desired lifestyle, and not the other way around. Happiness is the ultimate productivity and motivation hack and will lead to a improvement in my work.

I fully planned on having a section outlining the disadvantages of me working remotely to not seem too biased, but I honestly could only think of one. This is the impact it may have on the team culture. It’s always great being able to go for beers or other outings with the team, which is obviously something that can’t happen if I’m in another country. This is definitely something I will miss and something the team will miss me being a part of.

The only reason I can think of that would justify the company not allow me to do this, is a lack of trust. This is definitely a valid concern and I completely understand how it could feel as though they’re losing control of the work I’m doing. However, I see trust as being one of the most important aspects of as employee/founder relationship, and success would be hard to come by without it.

The more I think about it, the more I think this will be great for both the company and myself. It would be naive to think there won’t be lots of challenges, but assuming we can work through those I believe we’ll come out as a stronger team because of it.