When people ask me “how can you do all that stuff that you do, like writing on your blog, writing iPhone apps, traveling and so on? When do you have time for this?” I usually answer “How can you NOT do EVERYTHING you want to do in this life?” And, depending on the other person type, this answer usually ignites a new sparkling and fulfilling conversation, or pretty much ends the relationship.
One of the things that are allowing me to “do” a lot of stuff is that I don’t have a fixed job. I didn’t say I don’t provide value I said I didn’t have a fixed job. That’s a very big, and important, difference. With all due respect to people who do have fixed jobs nowadays (especially since it’s so hard to find one) I find this type of creating value a little bit obsolete. I know, there are many areas in our social life that are depending on this model. I don’t think our current society can function without the “job” concept, anyway.
But I also think that if the society would rely only on this type of value creation, progress would be really difficult, if not impossible at all. Breaking up with the norm, testing new boundaries, experimenting new lifestyles, that’s what creates progress. And living a life off the grid, as I tried (and pretty much succeeded) to live in the last 3 years is very different from having a job. In the process, the status-quo is challenged, of course, but that’s life.
Before getting to the real topic of the article, let me tell you that I did have jobs before. I’m not one of those unemployed guys who are taking pride in dodging the system and just surviving without being “enrolled”. I find this quite stupid, to be honest. Not to mention the fact that I really want to enjoy many material aspects of this life, which usually requires significant amounts of money.
As I told you, I know what it takes to have a job, because I was managing my own company for 10 years, until I sold it. And managing your own company is one of the toughest jobs out there, believe me. I was making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and I know how a million in the bank looks like. But at the same time, I was deeply frustrated and I was living a very sad and limited life.
Introducing Digital Nomading
So, after selling my company, almost 3 years ago now, I decided I won’t go back to that lifestyle anymore. I will do something different. Something that will involve creativity, freedom and flexibility. I didn’t know from the beginning that this will be called “digital nomading”. All I knew was that I want to build a blog and a business on top of it.
The rest was just work, but not the way I used to do it. I like to think that it was intelligent work. Anyway, almost 3 years after selling my company I know split my life between Romania and New Zealand, spend around 80-90 days per year abroad and don’t have any rigid schedule or fixed office. And yet, I manage to live a very relaxed and fulfilling life.
So, because everything must have a name, I named this lifestyle “being a digital nomad”. My first article on this topic was written a few months ago and it sill gets a few social media mentions each week. Which means it’s moderately popular. But it seems that not only the article was popular, it seems that this type of lifestyle is becoming increasingly interesting for other people too. By the way, I’m pretty sure “nomading” is not really a word, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
So, two months ago, a guy from my social network asked for a meeting with me. He was interested in opening an IT company in New Zealand. We met, spent a couple of hours talking about the matter and split up as friends. A few weeks ago, after a presentation I held on an Ignite event in Bucharest, one of the guys in the audience, who also happens to be seasoned business man, asked me the same.
Why not putting together a small workshop about what it takes to be a “digital nomad”, I asked him. And he agreed. In just a few days the workshop was ready. I had an incredible audience, around 30 persons. To my surprise, I didn’t know almost anyone of them. Which means the topic is really hot, it’s not just my imagination.
After the workshop, a few people came to me and asked to do a sequel. After a short conversation with the owner of the place, I agreed to do three more workshops, based on the same material. I will be back in a few days with more info about this.
Until then, feel free to download the 4 keynotes which made the last workshop. I know that some of the slides won’t mean much without the words, but maybe that would be an incentive to come to the next ones. 🙂
So, without further ado, here’s the archive: Being A Digital Nomad Workshop (2859 downloads ) .
Enjoy! 🙂
A great starting point for this lifestyle is watching the movie “Up In The Air” with George Clooney. In that movie he is also a speaker. His workshop is named: “What you have in your backpack”.
I was planning to see that. BTW: did you know about WpSumo? 😉
I never heard of it, but now I’m very curious. I registered to be notified when it will be launched. Thank you.
> fulfilling life
I think that’s the key.
For me, the empowering path in today’s world is following growth, playing to passions, and flowing value in an agile way.
Very interesting! Will give a look to the presentation later, I’m on my iPad now. Although I do have a kind of “fixed job” (doing my thesis with a PhD grant which will run out soon), I also enjoy the digital nomadism you suggest… Currently commenting here with my Apple Wireless keyboard in my iPad, where I do most of my blogging drafts (I can also write LaTeX for my thesis and draw to my hearts content). I still use my Mac for typesetting (emacs works awesome for that after crafting a custom mode for my needs), but being able to work anywhere is awesome.
Cheers,
Ruben
Yeap, I knew you qualify for being a digital nomad, Ruben 🙂