In this excerpt from Susanne Mathiasen’s blog post, she explores the possibilities of working freely as a digital nomad, and interviews two nomadic Danes: Celia and Jonas. These two entrepreneurs represent the future workforces and lifestyle of Millennials, and bring inspiration to future fellow nomads and potential employers.
To view full article, go to her website.
It is all about freedom apparently
It is all about freedom apparently, it is the lifestyle to be chosen by an increased number of Millennials. The rise of the digital nomads is not breaking news but seen in the context of the development of the Sharing and Collaborative Economy it can be expected to scale to new levels and have a revolutionary impact on changes in work structures including everything from working spaces to working hours and the entire HR area.
The Sharing Nomads have arrived: The digital nomads living by and co-creating a sharing and collaborative society based on the assumption that seems to be: Everything is possible.
Susanne: When did it all start? How did you get the idea to start a nomad lifestyle? What motivated you?
CELIA AND JONAS: Both of us read The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss and it really changed the way we looked at things. The book shows you another way of doing things than what you are normally told by society. We were instantly hooked by the idea of doing things different.
After that we started living our lives in Denmark as if we were already digital nomads. Jonas started working full-time in his own company without having any physical contact with his clients. All contact was, and still is, by email and Skype.
Celia started focussing on affiliate marketing and built a few sites while working for a client in Copenhagen – mostly from home. Always trying to get away from committing to a physical place.
The idea was that it didn’t matter if we were in Copenhagen or in Bangkok.
We were motivated by freedom; by the idea of being able to do whatever we felt like doing without having to compromise on our work.
Susanne: You told me, you find the Collaborative Economy interesting. How do you experience it in your life? Do you use co-working spaces and other sharing spaces?
CELIA AND JONAS: We use it all the time as digital nomads because it makes connecting with the surrounding world easier – both as travellers and as workers. It can be everything from finding cheap accommodation to sharing working or travel knowledge.
For accommodation we often use Couchsurfing and AirBnB. On both platforms we can easily get in contact with locals who can offer us a cheaper and more homely accommodation than the one you find in hotels. When we stay in a place for a longer period these sites gives us better prices than hotels can offer us.
Couchsurfing is not only for staying on people’s couch, as the name refer to, it can also be used for sharing inside information about places. When we stay in a new city we can ask locals where we should stay, what we should eat and what we should see. Normally this information would take weeks to learn by yourself. Maybe even years. Now it only takes a couple of hours. There are different platforms on which we can get information for free about the places where we travel to. Another great place is on TripAdvisor’s forum where people tell us how we can avoid all the expensive tourist traps that you normally only learn about when it’s too late. Like paying way too much for transportation.
We think it would be hard for us to travel without all the free information out there. Both as travellers and as workers. When we work, we share knowledge with our competitors because we believe we can all benefit from it. We are doing this in different ways. We are both part of affiliate marketing groups online where people share knowledge about how to make money online. People help each other without earning any money directly from it. In some of these groups we are even making competitions that can motivate all of us to get more work done. It’s an interesting way to have a workspace even though we are not really a part of the same company and sometimes even competitors. It’s something that can only be done today because of the internet.
In Denmark the big entrepreneur site Amino.dk is a big help because we can share our knowledge and at the same time use other people’s knowledge to help grow our business. Amino.dk is a platform where you can discuss all kind of topics concerning entrepreneurship.
Living by traveling continuously and making a living through marketing online and living off others is not responsible or sustainable, and it avoids one of the most crucial elements we need to solve many environmental and social problems which is real, long term relationships and community both with people and our ecosystems. Who would own or build the houses these people stay at, build the roads and infrastructure they use, and address our social and ecological issues if we are all constantly travelling? Expending huge natural resources. I think the collaborative economy is suppose to move in the oppose direction, creating more relationships, trust, and connections among people – it is the opposite of the supposed ‘nomadic’ life people like these constant travellers live, using infrastructure and resources everywhere, yet not creating any lasting impact/infrastucture themselves. Disappointed this is featured, and not addressed in the article.
Thanks for the comment.
I’m not saying that everyone should live like us. That is not the topic of the article. But today you have the opportunity to live in many different ways.
The collaborative economy is not only one thing. We will never found one solutions that fits all. So I don’t agree that collaborative economy needs to go in one or another direction. It needs to go in a lot of different directions because people are different.
If I live in Denmark my life would pretty much be the same in a work sense. I used to work from home with my clients – now I work on the road for my clients. Because of the internet I now have the chance to explore other countries will still doing the same as I did in Denmark.
I also now a lot of skillful people working from home. If companies want to attract those people they need to think different. I think that this fact is the point of the interview with us.
Jonas from the interview ?
Thanks for an Interesting article – I would like to offer my view on collaborative consumption: I interprete the collaborative economy as a system which can be used pragmatically as a perfect fitting element in the way we are used to live, because it offers so many opprtunities to make life richer –richer in the sense of experiences. I am married and the mother of two young boys. A young family like us would like to do loads of things – go on the bicycle, go hiking, go skiing, build a tree house, have guests stay over night, go on holiday, learn to dance, go camping, ride an extreme sportscar, go treasure seeking, and and and – and all of these activities involves some kind of investment. Some things are necessary to own because we use them so often. So we own quite a few things. And some things we just like to share, lend or rent from others when they do not use them. And this goes for knowledge as well. I think there is a huge potential for ressources to be used to a much larger extent than what is happening in the buy and throw away economy, giving a lot of people opportunites to do and try things they would not be able to afford otherwise. Everyone can try more, build more experiences, share and pass on to others. I agree with Melissa – some people need to own – and I think people always will – because it is practical and necessary in our economic system. But I see plenty of room for improving the way the owned goods are being used – and this will in it self address ecological challenges, it will increase contacts adn relationships based on shared interests.
I have started my own business – a webbased meetingplace for people to rent out things and ressources they need to own but do not used all the time – so that others can rent, save money, experience more. The idea started as my husband and I had our second son, and then we realized the concept collaborative consumption / Shareconomy. I think it is great, I hope it catches on seriously – because I think it has so much to offer to so many.
Annemari
http://www.ebite.ch
Good to hear your thoughts Annemari. Connect with like-minded businesses on twitter, tag @collcons