Digital Nomads Head to Mount Bonnell
There is on the rise a new tribe post Covid-19, namely, the Digital Nomads. This tribe has been around for a while – decades, in fact – but its number has increased significantly in the last months.
The characteristics of this tribe are that they shun the 9-5 grind and work from wherever they chose – more than likely not an office. They may be found on beaches or in city center cafes, at home, or in a trendy co-working space or when the sun shines in a local park. They are everywhere and nowhere. They are often freelancers – working wherever and whenever they like and for whomsoever they choose. They are entrepreneurial to the core. They have quickly realized that the world is made up of those who work to exist and those who exist for their work, which in their case is work they love and are good at.
The key to understanding this tribe is the word ‘digital’. The advances in technology in the last years have been so rapid that this lifestyle is now more than accessible to millions across the globe. Covid-19, whether we like it or not, has changed things forever.
We have watched as, in recent months, national government after national government has positively urged its working populations to work from anywhere other than the traditional office. And, many have followed that advice, and, in so doing, finally have started working in a truly remote way. And, maybe not so surprisingly many have found it much more productive and convivial than the boring old office with its clock watching and office politics.
Inevitably, many of those now working from home will return to the office at some stage – if only for part of the working week. And there are many jobs that need people to clock in and these employees will continue to do so, probably with a mask and lots of sanitizer, so the office workplace of old is not quite dead, not yet.
The Digital Nomads though have already embraced not so much a work practice as a lifestyle. They are the way of the future and like all entrepreneurs they have adopted this lifestyle earlier than the majority of the working population, and then taken it to its limits.
Today we have safer and more efficient systems for sharing data than ever before. This is coupled with some truly superior portable devices to communicate with staff, employers, customers and so on. Allied to that the savings in cost in not having a bricks and mortar building with all the expenses involved in heating, lighting and maintenance etc. and you have a no brainer when it comes to creating your next business model.
Mobile hi-tech has made remote working not just possible but desirable. When it comes to hiring new staff, for many where they work will be predicated on how flexible you are going to be about the “workplace”. And when you consider the generation entering the world of work, these are the most tech-savvy ever. As a result you have the makings of an epoch shift. It is this growing band of workers who are adding to the numbers already to the tribe of Digital nomads.
Stop and think about it for a moment. What can you not do on line these days?
Zoom and Skype mean we can meet as many times a day as you like with team or customers. Okay it may lack the warmth of human interaction but what it lacks in that it makes up for in efficiency. We start on time and finish on time without the sometimes rambling discourses with clients or staff either side.
We recruit on line, we bank on line, we curate social media on line, we market on line, we produce content on line, we shop on line, and on and on – all online.
So I ask again what do we do off line?
Increasingly what is happening off line is our exclusive personal domain. It is real time with family and close friends. It is an altogether different interaction. But then workspaces were never home spaces, right? The person we had to be in the office was different from the one who came home at 7pm, right? The difference is now that the person who switches off the computer stops being that on line business presence and becomes a spouse, a parent, a private citizen.
While the boundaries are blurred a little for some Digital Nomads this is a pretty smart group of early adopters. They know how to blend and differentiate their lives on line and in reality.
At Mount Bonnell Advisors we have been working with Digital Nomads for many years. We work with people who wish to have an on line presence across the United States while all the time living in Europe or wherever. It is possible to do so, and our job is make it so.
Some of our clients emigrate to the States. It is a personal choice. They want a change, a fresh start, a new beginning. For others though they want to stay right where they are and instead build a virtual presence across America for themselves and their business. The pandemic has made this latter choice more acceptable than ever.
Both choices are right, however, and we at Mount Bonnell Advisors can make either or both of them available. We can help you build the lifestyle right for you and your family on whichever side of the Atlantic you wish to reside – just give us a call to begin that nomadic trek.
