When we launched this blog, we wanted it to be helpful and relevant to ALL types of digital nomads and not just the Marshall Goldsmiths of the world. Marshall is one of those ‘global nomads’ or ‘road warriors’ that rack up frequent flyer miles by the millions.
We wanted it to be a place where all nomads could come (and would come) to learn new things and share ideas. If you look at how we defined the digital nomad last year, we said “We’re all becoming digital nomads. And nomads want to know how to use their technology in the most productive way every day. There are many types of nomads, ranging from the café nomad to the jet-set nomad and we all share one goal — our desire to be connected when we want to have conversations or do work.”
One type of digital nomad that we didn’t mention in that text was the stay-at-home nomad (stay-at-home dads and stay-at-home moms). My wife is one. My retired parents fall into that category as well, but now are more “RV nomads” as their Dell laptop travels around the country with them in their fifth-wheel trailer.
Nick Floyd, who follows us on Twitter (he’s @nickfloyd) recently wrote a post on his wife and very eloquently says what we want everyone to know - that going to an office or having a business card of some kind isn’t the only way you can consider yourself a digital nomad. Nick’s wife sounds like she works harder and manages much more than many I know in the ‘professional’ world. They’ve got three kids (ages 4, 2 and nine months). She’s an E.R. nurse. She leads a group of women who have preschoolers at her church (M.O.P.S.). Her work may have more of a long-lasting impact than much of what I do.
She is absolutely a digital nomad!
So, what about you? What kind of a digital nomad are you? Jet-set nomad, frag nomad (gamers), campus nomad? I’m sure you can think of many more categories than I can but think about it, what is the work or play that defines how you use your laptop or electronic device? Are you a gamer, a family manager (the title I give my wife on our tax return every year), a rock-climber nomad (like @WasatchGirl) or a nomadic family (like @soultravelers3).
I’d love to hear from you. As hopefully you’ve seen, this blog is not about Dell. It is about you and what you do using your Dell laptop (or any other vendor for that matter).
So, I’d like to hear from you. Follow us on Twitter, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment below.
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Nomad Contributors
I spent this summer seeing if its possible to run a business from a tent on a nice beach somewhere really hot so I have been an ‘Online shopkeeping whilst camping on the beach’ type of digital nomad. Currently though I’m back in London for a few months & am hence a ‘freezing cold wet & miserable’ type of digital nomad.
http://www.digital-nomad.info
I am a virtual-office nomad. I took my job from a cubicle in San Diego cross country over the summer, stopping in Austin, New Orleans, and Baltimore. I’ve been working from Boston since then on the same laptop and PDA, with some trips to Baltimore and Chicago mixed in there. Probably taking the show back on the road when the weather gets nicer…
Great post! Thanks so much for including us as I think we have had quite a unique journey as a 3 laptop, digital nomad family. We are into our 3rd year of an open ended world tour and have been to 4 continents, 29 countries so far and even brought our laptop with us into the Sahara Desert in Morocco, Africa.
It is a good life and we would not have it any other way!
I am a service provider to digital nomads, entrepreneurs and business minded individuals. We had a physical meeting place called Blue Chip Café & Business Center in Gothenburg, Sweden. We had a café area with free WLAN for the customers, PCs with Internet connection, co-working office space, etc. I am interested in getting to know entrepreneurs, coffee-house owners, potential partners and investors. My main inspiration for the Third Place was an article on historical coffee-houses in London in The Economist.
@soultravelers3 - it was my pleasure to add you to my post today. It was also good talking to you from Spain via Skype and I’m thrilled that you’re going to share some of your learnings with other nomads on doing what you, your husband and daughter have done. My wife and I have two kids and would love to give them the educational opportunities a lifestyle like your’s affords.
I’ve increasingly come across others that are doing what you’re doing and any thoughts you can share on what steps to take will be worthwhile for them.
bruce eric
Sent my first intercontinental nomadic missive in ‘72, using a hand crafted protocol, a sort of BSC over asynch line (110bps) using the then first submarine link to South Africa, using Singer 1501 and a modem the size of a packing case. It was a regular habit by the mid 80s, Its a bit easier now. Might make me a Neanderthal Digital Nomad.
Put us in the RV Nomads category. Living full-time in a 36 ft. 5th wheel in Canada & the U.S. Bought a 19 ft motorhome for Mexico and Central America travels, which we store in California. Bi-coastal homes, we like to joke. I was once a Virtual Assistant Nomad, but a truly mobile VA business turned out to be trickier than I’d planned. Back to the drawing boards on making the most of this incredible experience I am having.
I live a fairly conventional digital nomadic life… I am mainly a coffee house nomad - various Starbucks, a nice local coffee house, occasionally the library, and first thing in the morning and after 9pm on the couch at home. I spend much of my day thinking about office space, ironically, due to the blog/website I work on. It’s all about serviced office space (also known as executive suites) and how people should use them. A little ironic, I know. But there’s not one near enough to my house to warrant using it. Also, I do write about virtual offices as well…
by Rex Thomas / June 2, 2009
Request for Information
How does the nomadic lifestyle fit with the current economic institutions built around mortgages? (mort, latin for death); the only other options being renting (or living in Mom and Dad’s house).
I am exploring a third way with an economist, and would like some feedback on the current state first. What works, what does not, and how do digital nomads work around the current system which anchors one to the land.
Kindly send emails to Rex Thomas, rexrthomas@gmail.com.