Digital settlers: location independent and very much staying put
Just because you can work from anywhere, it doesn't mean you have to.
You probably know the term `digital nomad`, a person who’s working remotely while traveling. You’ve seen it on Instagram, nothing like getting some sand into your keyboard for the perfect Bali sunrise shot.
Digital nomads require work-from-anywhere, usually combined with high schedule flexibility. This is not the only way of organizing the intersection of location and schedule flexibility - and the clearer you are as an organization as to what you optimize for, the easier it is to attract and retain the right talent.
The Dimensions of Distributed Work
Remote is a beautiful word - and it’s informational value in a job description is non-existant. So if you have a hard time defining your remote, here’s a handy 2x2 matrix (you can download it here) to help you think through the main ingredients:
I tend to joke that my work is location independent, but my kids’ school is very much rooted in a specific location and bound to regular schedules. And, let’s be honest, I love working in a room with 40+ plants around me. I thrive on hosting dinners and having long, meandering conversations in the conversation pit (a.k.a. the sofa).
Turns out, I am a digital settler.
A digital settler is someone deliberately choosing a permanent home base even though their work does not prescribe a specific location.
Lately I have been repeating this term over and over AND OVER again - mostly to desperate biz dev people who end up in my LinkedIn inbox. I don’t need world-wide health insurance (if I did, I’d sign up with Safety Wing), a monthly subscription for coliving access, or support in setting up a new morning routine that aligns with European working hours.
I talked about my reasons for being a remote settler on this very newsletter. If you click through, you’ll see community and connection with my chosen family as the most salient topic. And as I dig deeper into the magic of human relationships, here are a couple of services, ideas, topics that I’d love to see existing in this world - in no particular order:
An app to find dinner companions who like similar food on a similar budget to mine. I don’t want to date, I want to find new restaurants and have good conversations.
Sofa ratings for cafés so I know how many people to meet for coffee.
A way to easily share my planta tasks with another person so they can plant-sit my jungle while I am on vacation.
Biweekly dancing / chess / painting / football classes to sign up my kids for activities the week they are with me (#sharedCustody) - and myself for the weeks they are not with me.
A fresh flower subscription that surprises me once a month. Actually, if Bloom&Wild could expand to Spain, that would be marvelous.
And then make it work for small communities, because not everyone lives in central London, Barcelona or Los Angeles.