Facts Driving Digital Opportunities
An Introduction to Digital Nomads’ Life
According to a recent Flexjob survey, about 20% of digital nomads earn more than $100,000 every year. In addition to enjoying handsome incomes and allowances, 92% of the respondents said that their lifestyle was important to them while 85% of them liked their jobs’ flexibility.
2019, recorder over 3 million coworkers, with this number said to double by 2022 and currently over 17 million individual aspire to move to this way of living.
‘Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, in commercial real estate, coworking spaces were the fastest expanding category of office space. Presently, coworking spaces encompass under 5% of the market; however, it is expected to seek growth up to 30% by 2030.
But, like in every other job, there were similar problems across the board. According to the study, 52% of the respondents stated that the major drawback to their jobs was finding a reliable WiFi connection. Furthermore, 42% of the nomads cited that finding an excellent workplace was a hassle, while 32% had issues networking. That why the right co-working space matters so much.
Some Digital Nomad Careers
Digital nomads are often involved in different careers. However, some of the fields which have seen a rise in digital nomad lifestyles include:
- Writing and vlogging
- Data entry
- Administrative work
- Project management
- Computer and IT
- Education and Training
- Consulting
- Art and creativity
- Customer service
- Marketing
In each of these job categories, there are literally hundreds of work specialties. But, that shall be tackled in a separate blog post.
Where to get Jobs as a Digital Nomad
You may ask yourself, where do digital nomads get work and clients? To be honest, different nomads get work from different sources. How you get work depends on your niche and expertise. If you’re new to this and you’re looking for work, here are some places where you might get them:
- Job boards- These are search engines and sites where recruiters seek talent. Some of the sites operate in specific countries, whereas others seek skilled personnel from all over the world. There may be thousands of these sites, but some of the most popular ones include Upwork, Fiverr, Craigslist, Indeed, Jobs2Careers, The Ladders, Glassdoor, and TalentZoo.
- Social media- Other people get jobs through social media platforms such as Facebook, WeChat, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram. However, if you want to connect through professional platforms, check out LinkedIn, Meetup, Xing, Zerply, and Opportunity.
- Cold-pitching- This is similar to making unsolicited proposals. To win through this strategy, a digital nomad does some background research on a company, identifies weaknesses in the company, but wisely offers how they can help resolve the problem. Such a proposal can then be sent through email to one of the company’s relevant staff members.
Communication and Collaboration Tools
In the end, digital nomads get to work with people and for people. To do this, different platforms are involved. Some of the platforms through which different people keep in touch include Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, Google Chats, and GoToMeeting. You may have noticed that since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, these platforms have been on the limelight in social circles and business forums.
Emerging Trends in the Occupation of Digital Nomads
The emergence of digital nomad lifestyles has led to the development of other industries, cultures, and payment platforms. It is hard to talk about all of them exhaustively here, but the key ones involve; online payment platforms and the establishment of co-working spaces.
Online payment platforms such as Skrill, Paypal, Propay, and Dwolla have become more popular. Similarly, blockchain currencies eg, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have continued growing significantly. However, the use of these payment plans shall be discussed in another blog post.
As mentioned earlier, many freelancers and digital nomads have been experiencing problems such as networking, working zones, and stable WiFi connections. To alleviate this problem, co-working hubs have been established where freelancers get stable WiFi and work stations. Additionally, nomads, at times, connect, share ideas, and opportunities.
