What is an e-Nomad, I hear you ask?
Good question!
It’s a person who can work from any where as they work online. E = electronic, and in this story E = entrepreneur. Nomad = “a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer”
And since the global lockdowns, there are more people than ever who have either pivoted their businesses so they now work remotely, or they’ve found an entirely new career working from home (or anywhere) online.
How do e-Nomads help with tourism?
Another great question. (You are on fire).
There is an opportunity here for savvy countries to pivot like entrepreneurs have had to. To realise that there will not be masses of inbound international tourists for a long long time, so if your country relied on this, what do you do?
This is what they’re doing in Estonia, a country of just 1.3 million people who have no natural resources and are having to think out of the box. They’ve been a largely online nation for many years now and are perfectly used to it, so this is just an extension of that.
They are offering a 12 month Digital Nomad Visa for e-Nomads to come and base themselves in Estonia, as long as they can show a minimum amount earned per month (in their case it’s EUR 3504 over the previous six months). You have to be able to travel to Estonia as soon as you get the visa, and it is valid for up to a year.
Then of course, while your digital nomad is making money from her villa by the sea, she spends her down time exploring her new country, eating in their restaurants, renting that villa and generally spending her earnings there.
This has merit!
I know, right! I think we might see other governments looking at issuing these types of visas. Or at least I hope we do.
In New Zealand (where I live) you need an awful lot of money to be able to get a visa to work here and to be honest, with our housing prices this would put extra pressure on rental properties that we don’t really need.
On saying that, why would an e-Nomad move to Auckland? They’d surely head for the Bay of Islands or Coromandel or somewhere for the lifestyle rather than swap one congested city for another.
Ergo governments could issue Digital Nomad visas on the proviso that the recipients base in certain locations (those that rely heavily on tourism, like Rotorua for example) – from which they explore the rest of the country, of course.
But who I think this type of visa really might have merit for are our Pacific Island neighbours and countries that are almost 100% reliant on tourism dollars.
So if a villa on a remote beach in Vanuatu sounds like you, I think you should send an email…
What are digital nomad jobs?
So if you’re already able to work remotely, you’re good to go. Jobs like freelance writers, bloggers, visual artists, web programmers, designers – and let me know what else I’ve missed!
But there is another initiative I saw to help people plan a new future and upskill to start your own business. You can find a list of opportunities on a new start up site called DayZero.
Their concept is if you want to learn to be a wine maker or a pasta maker or how to create 3D products or jewellery or furniture or produce an entire fashion capsule, you can find opportunities for live-in programmes around the world that range in length of time. Their vision is about living local and supporting local artisans whose businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic.
So there’s some out-of-the-box thinking for new way of doing life!
What do you think?
