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A Digital Nomad is a person who needs mobile technology to conduct business while on the road which could be within a city, between cities or from other countries. Nomads are not location dependent except through personal choice and could be employed by a business or be freelancers.
This is a growing trend with the uncertainties of long term employment with a single company and rapid changes in emerging technologies, and there is a different mindset required to be successful.
So the guys over at Digital Nomads are trying to figure out what people who seem to live that kind of lifestyle are like and they came up with a meme about it.
Besides FreedomSeeker and Nia, I was asked as well to answer 3 questions about Digital Nomadic Lifestyle:
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1. What do you feel is the key attitude to being successful in this lifestyle?
It’s probably easier than most people might think.
If you have a low demand in luxury assets, that’s basically it. Reject being a Slave of the World of Consumerism, give up the material temptations of the medial advertised Lifestyle. People survive everyday in all parts of the world. And mainly happier than in developed countries. Why do you always see people in 3rd world countries smiling, even though they don’t own anything? Because they still enjoy life in its basic form and happiness doesn’t come with money.
Why work your back off to buy a Porsche, 2 houses and tailor-made suits; when you can drive an old used Motor-Scooter in a beautiful surrounding, rent a small but cozy flat and sit in flip-flops and shorts at the Perfect Beach, thus avoiding Monday Morning Blues forever? If you tend more to the latter, you can have it. If you want to own all the riches – you can have it as well. It’s all up to you! But make your choice early!
To live Nomadic, it might help to be a bit more mobile or adaptable than the guy next door, meaning to have less baggage in one location but a desire and curiosity to try out something new, unknown or explore other cultures than the one you were born into. Be considered to be an Outsider wherever you go, that can slowly change as you get adapted to your host country.
We live in the Digital Age, so everything internet-related should work naturally for you, if you consider working, trading stocks, publishing, sharing or exchanging views and information online.
Be prepared that things will change all the time around you. Things go their own way, the world keeps moving, even though you are just watching. Nothing is steady. But if you think of change as a chance to learn something new, then you are surely set.
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2. What is the biggest drawback for you in being a digital nomad?
Currently I don’t see many drawbacks, as it’s the life I always wanted to lead. Maybe at an older age, if you are not healthy or if you want to create a family – some obvious drawbacks will occur or weight heavier.
There are some short-comings currently though; like the lack of a world-class service culture, health-care issues, hygiene, food or environmental standards. Most of the time you have to compromise somehow. But if compromising is your strength, that won’t be too much of a drawback.
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3. What do you consider to be the minimum essential equipment you currently have or would be buying in the future?
As digital gadgets are concerned I gave up on most amenities which I still enjoyed in a high-developed country like Germany or Singapore. Basically I don’t need Watches, Cars, Divesuits, a CD/DVD-Collection, jewelry, the latest 3G-Handphone or other techie devices anymore. The same counts for DVD players, Big Screen TV or Digital HiFi or Dolby Surround 5.1 Systems.
Currently I’m thinking about consolidating the following 3 gadgets into 2:
- A Digital Camera I need for taking pictures and creating lasting memories of travels and visits to other countries
- A PDA I might try to give up, even though it is surely useful to stay connected – serving as a telephone, mini-computer to check your stocks, store your addresses, e-mail, telephone numbers and MP3’s
- A Laptop is surely a multi-functional gadget I currently can’t live without. I use it to blog, skype, store my photos/data and play a game or two once in a while
Hopefully there is soon a PDA capable of shooting better pictures (at least with 3x optical zoom and minimum 4 Megapixel), then I could see to give up the Camera as a separate gadget. Or I consolidate the functions of the PDA into the Laptop, but then I still might need a cheap handphone, so not really a consolidation at all, mainly only in the overall worth of gadgets, which isn’t a bad thing as well.
Important data I store online and burn on CD’s or DVD’s and send back to my parents for storage, so in case of loss of the laptop I can still recover my data.
What else could be necessary? I’m sure everyone will answer those questions differently than me. Is there any great gadget out there you can’t live without? Please let me know! 
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May 9th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Nice post this one, put me onto some good links, and a good couple of hours reading wikihow articles once again
May 10th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Hi Nomad4ever
Great post – fab post – brill post….
I need to write my post on the subject – will do so very very shortly…..
bye for now
http://www.escapengland.blogspot.com
May 15th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Thanks for posting on this meme. I like your gadget collection. Peter and I will reference this article.
Stay in touch. We like your blog. Check out my new blog on extreme computers: http://www.ruggednotebooksblog.com
May 17th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Thanks for answering the meme. Great post and it gave me a different perspective and better questions to answer than I had been reading on other sites I found.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Nice write up, Chris. Makes me want to reflect with my lifestyle. My place of origin is in the southern part of the Philippines and 15 years ago, I moved to Manila which is exactly the opposite end of my province. I still stay single with no house to call my own. I didn’t have any relative in Manila as well. Earlier, I tried to collect things I had the interest with like VCDs (no DVD yet during those times), nice clothings, etc. but later lost all of those things when I move from one place to another. Just now, I realized the most essential things I really need are the following: my laptop, my SLR camera, my PDA (broken some two weeks back), my handy phone. Somehow, I realize I need to shave off some of my clothings so I can move anywhere lightly. I probably would buy soon an XR200 Honda for easy mobility. I think another essential thing for me without comprising the need of an owned house with a garage.
My apology for the lenghty response. I’m carried away by your thought :-)
June 8th, 2007 at 1:14 am
please read my mail message and reply to my questions, if you will. i have much to learn from you.
thanks,
anne
October 4th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Hey Chris,
Just got inspired this morning about living nomadicly. I am very tired of the 40 hr/wk routine, and want to take my family away from it.
My idea is developing devices and concepts to help people live off the grid in terms of energy, etc., and living with more freedom. Your life and web site is very uplifting, I will try to frequent it.
Thanks so much,
Shane Sparks
AB, CA
October 21st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
[…] Is a Nomadic Lifestyle for you? […]
December 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[…] Is a Nomadic Lifestyle for you? touches key attitude, drawbacks and essential gadgets for living a travel life as a so-called Digital Nomad. Funny enough we can’t give up completely on all those little gadgets and devices and want to stay in touch with friends and family. Ahhhh! The benefits of progress and globalization! Why not travel and enjoy them?
[…]
April 4th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Found this site after deciding to move beyond just thinking to taking action.
My life is in a different place to where I once imagined it might be.
I’ve given my all to the life I once wanted – I didn’t achieve it, and instead the results have left me empty.
I don’t want to be a grey nomad – years away… It is now that I have nothing to hold me to this lifestyle (that lacks life and style).
I’m seriously considering packing all things up, storage for some, selling others, giving other stuff to family to use, and stripping my life down to bare basics.
I may only travel Australia (my home country) in order to test my strength, my resilience, my fortitude, my resourcefulness… still, I have lived here a long time and barely know the place.
I would want my laptop and a phone… beyond that, I don’t care. I don’t want the hassle of bills to pay.
I’m looking to totally free my life up from the BS of modern living.
Any advice, any connections I can make to move me through this decision making process – all welcomed.
Who knows, if I can prove to myself that I have the guts to get off my butt and go live life by travelling Oz, then it might just take me off to other lands, and fuel my motivations to go to Mochu Pichu with my friend from Kakamas.
Cheers.
Ms T
April 4th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Terri, you are more than welcome and congrats to your decision to change your life for the better! You might want to read up a bit, especially the topics about money, by clicking on ‘money’ in the Topic Cloud in the upper-left side.
If you have any specific questions, myself and the readers of this site will surely do our best and try to help you out.
And Maccu Piccu is very much on top of my own “Must see list” also. I guess it has to wait another couple of years though…
October 1st, 2009 at 5:34 am
hello iam a new nomad memeber in this site web iam from morocco desert i read somme comment my be i can give somme ideas to this topic
but i have to know how it works
October 1st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
ali, welcome to nomad4ever.com. Hope you can find some interesting articles! If you have ideas and requests what we should detail further here, please feel free to use the comment form for suggestions and critics!
September 25th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Great website – good writing and nice balanced opinions
I’d like to know what you all think about how globalization has influenced your need to be a nomad. I had a lot of questions about the way the world is changing due to the internet and mobile hardware and most of them were answered by Thomas Friedman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Is_Flat
Oh and BTW Muchu Piccu really is worth the journey. I rode my bike there from Cusco through the sacred valley earlier this year and after seeing the sun rise through the sun gate sitting in the ruins I felt a new inner peace just knowing Man is capable of creating such beauty http://bit.ly/9DdrCe
However I found there’s no Zen in South America though which has made up my mind to move to asia asap