Being a digital nomad has become an easy and popular path for many people looking for a better way of life. It allows you to live and work from your home, travel to exotic locales, and stay connected without being tethered to a physical office or a physical job. It’s a lifestyle built on the premise that you can reach your potential and your dreams while making as much money as possible while you’re at home.
Digital nomads work online in an attempt to work remotely or work from home. Many of their work activities occur on virtual private LANs (also known as VPLs) or virtual private data centers (also known as VPDs). VPLs are high-speed, secure, cloud-based networks that allow you to connect to a server on a private network — a network that provides a secure environment across the globe. For many people, this translates to a chance to work on a project in a different culture, a chance to work from home without a commute, the ability to travel around the world to locales you don’t usually get to visit, and the chance to work for clients who are often located in exotic locales.
Digital nomads also have the opportunity to create a community, whether they are remote or are working remotely with remote office partners or partners over the Internet. The people who work for you are almost always located in distant places; however, your team needs to work remotely with other remote team members in order to stay on top of the technology. It’s a chance to work with other like-minded people who share your values and goals: to get away from your daily humdrum and to get outside of your comfort zone.
In this article, we’re going to focus on how to become a digital nomad without the skills or the ability to work online.
Work remotely with other people
There are many options for working remotely. Depending on your location and your skill sets, you might be able to work with other people in your city. You might have a remote office partner with whom you’d like to work online.
If you can bring virtual assistants with you, it might be easier to work remotely with someone you already know. You might have an existing, familiar colleague who works remotely at some point in their life: a colleague you worked with within school or college, a co-worker who works remotely as a freelancer, or a colleague you already know by name. You can use technology and tools that enable you to access a contact list of people on your phone and from which you can choose to be contacted.
You can find people who are willing to work with you on a project, then start a Skype conversation or message them, and they’ll probably start to feel like they need to take the next step to complete the project.
However, this method of working remotely is limited as far as skills and technical abilities go. You can’t be a team lead or a technical expert: you’ll be working with other people who may or may not have these skills.
To become a digital nomad without the skills to work online, you have to develop a network of remote contacts that are willing to collaborate with you. For example, you might have a remote office partner with whom you’d like to work, in which case you could create a Skype or Google Hangout to connect with them and work on a project together.
Work remotely with a partner you already know
A simple, yet effective way to work remotely with a partner who you know is to join the workgroup on Skype. While you might not already know each other, you can use the workgroup to find a remote contact on Skype or Google Hangout and collaborate on projects.
You can create a workgroup for the kind of work you enjoy. Then, you can use Skype or Google Hangout to find remote contacts who share your values and who are willing to collaborate with you on a project.
You’ll almost certainly need to make some introductions to remote friends who might be willing to work with you on a project. Once you have a group of contacts, you can start a Skype conversation with each person and start to develop a relationship over time. It’s a great way to get started on making an online home, to make new relationships, and work on projects together.
Work remotely with another remote office partner
An office partner arrangement might be cheaper than making a workgroup on Skype or Google Hangout, but it’s not always possible. In some cases, you might have to work with an established partner who regularly works at a location where you might be able to work remotely.