Who are Digital Nomads?

 

Pre-pandemic, the majority of the corporate workforce requires being physically present in offices to work on their computers, sit on their office chairs, and spend 8 hours (or more) at their work stations. At the onset of the pandemic, this practice turned a full 360 to adapt to the restrictions of the global population’s living conditions and suddenly, working anywhere within your house has become the new “office” situation. Did the pandemic turn us all into digital nomads?

 

Digital nomad defined

According to Investopedia, digital nomads are people that live a nomadic lifestyle and are location-independent. They use technology to do their jobs. Telecommuting rather than being physically present at a company’s headquarters or office, they prefer to work remotely. 

There are certain individuals who claim that they have been digital nomads since the 2010 and they are mostly bloggers who create content from their travels and experiences.

Following the definition, every individual who has access to the internet and can work anywhere (as long as their data connection allows it) is a digital nomad. That covers all workers who have shifted to a work from home setup to continue performing their roles mostly in a corporate setting. 

 

Are remote workers the same as digital nomads?

Digital nomads work at their own pace (in the time zone that they are in, wherever they may be). They decide when to schedule a meeting (or just put it into an email) and prefer to work alone. Remote workers on the other hand, still abide by a certain window of working hours depending on the location of the business (which means they have to adjust their time zone accordingly) and would still need to work with a team to cover up all the areas of the required business workload.

 

Can a virtual assistant be a digital nomad?

There are two defining factors that can make virtual assistants become digital nomads. First is location. You could be working from home or be at your friend’s house outside of the city the next day. As long as you have a good internet connection and be present for any scheduled meetings, then you’re good to work anywhere. Second is the ability to work at your own pace. While digital nomads create content whenever they feel like it, virtual assistants need to consider timelines, deadlines, and prioritization of workload so you can work smarter and allocate your time to tasks that would require more of it.  

Working from home does not automatically turn you into a digital nomad. But there are similarities and perks that can be enjoyed by working remotely versus the usual office setting. Less time spent on commutes and more time to spend for yourself. Another advantage of working remotely is that there’s potential career growth to plan for yourself and the assurance that you have a steady source of income (which most digital nomads don’t have). Work smarter, not harder.

 

Do you want to try out being a digital nomad? You can manage your team from miles away with a trusted virtual assistant! Hiring a virtual assistant now will make you one step closer into setting the good pace for yourself and your business! Now, you’re ready to get started! We make the process easy for you. Call us at 866-596-9041 today!